Chapter 15: The Inner Wall
Accelerator, Azula, and the rest of the group stared on in silence; Aang hadn't seen them and instead seemed to be preoccupied with something else. The doors on the train slowly began to slide close, cutting off the avatar from sight; moments later, the train itself started to leave the platform, moving on the straight path of the track. Azula's eyes followed the vehicle as it continued to move away, refusing to look at anything else.
"It seems the avatar is attempting to meet with the Earth King as well," she simply stated.
"How can you be so sure, Azula?" Ty Lee questioned, following immediately behind Accelerator.
"It's no coincidence that the avatar has come to Ba Sing Se," Azula explained, "the only reason he and his friends would enter the city is to talk with the Earth King."
"Well, what are we supposed to do now?" Mai interjected, "if the avatar recognizes us in the city, our cover is blown."
"Don't worry, we're not going to let him see us," Azula responded.
As they were talking, another train approached the station, slowing to a stop as it neared the platform; just like the last one, the uniformed men on the back of the vehicle announced the train's arrival and told everybody to board it. The five of them, along with a few of the other citizen's who had been waiting for the train, made their way onto the vehicle. The area on the inside of the train was quite small and everyone on board had to stay tightly packed within the space; Azula and Accelerator were both pushed to the corner of the cart by the oncoming people. One of the citizens must've accidentally bumped into Accelerator as he was pushed closer to Azula; stretching his arms out and planting them against the wall on either side of the surprised princess, he suddenly leaned in mere inches away from her face.
"S…sorry," the esper whispered apologetically, turning his head to avoid her gaze.
"Don't worry, it's only temporary," Azula said in a dismissive tone, "once we get to Ba Sing Se, things will be much smoother."
Accelerator nodded his head as he stared out the window at the lush, green fields below them while the train moved; taking a glance out of the corner of his eye, the young esper couldn't help but examine the soft features of the princess' face. As she stared out of the window, the bright light from the mid-day sun illuminated her pale skin and made her golden eyes appear to sparkle. Accelerator hadn't thought of this before, but she was actually quite pretty – at least when compared to most girls he saw.
The train ride took as long as General Sung had said – about 30 minutes or so, and they spent the majority of the time staring out at the ground below. As they neared the inner wall, the train began to slow down as it flew swiftly through an opening above the tracks. The opening to the other end of the inner wall revealed the vast outstretch of the city; buildings took up every inch of space, it seemed, and the busy movement of citizens took up the open walk ways. The train station was within view now, and the train started to decelerate. Slowing to a gentle stop, the vehicle halted on the tracks at its final destination; platforms were positioned on either side of the train to allow for the occupants of the vehicle to exit in different directions.
The group of five walked off of the train and onto the stone floor of the station; the platform led to an open area that connected to two staircases opposite each other. The stairs led down to the city street and morphed with the crowd of moving citizens. Azula wandered to the edge of the platform and overlooked the expanse of the Ba Sing Se city line; the avatar had left mere minutes before them, so he couldn't have gotten far.
"Can you see the avatar?" Ty Lee asked, wandering behind Azula.
"No," the Fire Nation princess blankly replied, "but we're not here for him. We're here for the Earth King."
Turning her attention to the General, who was no longer terrified of the situation but still seemed to be quite nervous, Azula faced him.
"Lead the way," she demanded with a menacing glare.
General Sung gulped as he nodded his head and led the teens down the stairs; all five of them took careful and deliberate steps down the steady descent of the stone staircase. Upon meeting the street's level, all of them weaved through the massive crowds that packed between the buildings.
"Don't you think that being out in the open like this is risky?" Accelerator asked as he closely watched the back of the general to make sure he wouldn't try to escape.
"I agree," Azula whispered back, "but right now, we don't have any other options."
The group soon turned down a relatively thin and secluded alleyway; Accelerator's suspicion began to rise the more they continued further down the passage. The sounds of the crowds began to die down as they wandered deeper and deeper into the alleyway.
Upon coming to a corner, the group was suddenly confronted by a trio of figures that silently emerged from the shadows. They wore dark robes with long sleeves that covered their hands; round, pointed caps adorned the top of their heads and narrowly hid their eyes from view.
"At what time does the dragon sleep?" one of the men asked.
Looks of confusion flashed on the teens' faces as General Sung stepped foreword.
"At the same time the lotus wilts," he responded.
The man remained silent for a few moments before he stepped to the side to allow them all to pass by. General Sung led the way, being the first to walk past the three men; just as he passed by, the general glanced back at the group – a strange look appeared on his face. Accelerator's eyes suddenly widened upon realization.
"It's a trap!" he suddenly yelled just as one of the men went to attack Azula.
Digging his feet into the earth, Accelerator left a small crater in his wake as slammed the man into a wall. The other two men appeared to be startled by Accelerator's speed, so Azula wasted no time taking advantage of their hesitation. Reaching out and grabbing the nearest man's wrist, Azula twisted his arm and forced him to down to his knees; once he was on the ground, she forced her leg up into his face, effectively breaking his nose and causing blood to sputter from his nostrils. As the second man fell to the floor, unconscious, the third man prepared his own set of attacks in Azula's direction. He was quickly subdued by several quick jabs to the abdomen and the shoulders by Ty Lee; the man let out a groan before he collapsed to the floor.
"Phew! I thought that was gonna be hard," Ty Lee said happily.
"Where did the General go?" Azula demanded.
"He probably escaped," Accelerator stated as he tightly gripped the neck of the first man.
"You…won't…make it..out of here…alive," the man gasped as he gripped at Accelerator's arm.
"Hmmm, this looks familiar," Azula mused as Accelerator gave her an annoyed look.
"It seems our guide was able to get away," Azula said to the man as he continued to struggle, "I suppose YOU will have to take his place."
"I'll never tell you anything!" the man sneered as he spat in Accelerator's face.
The enraged esper silently wiped the saliva off of his face with the back of his hand; his fire-red eyes burned as his lids narrowed with rage at the man.
"You're gonna regret that," Accelerator said in a rough voice.
The man's jaw merely stiffened in opposition to the esper's threats.
Placing his palm on the man's stomach, Accelerator slowly began to apply pressure into his abdomen; the man let out a groan in pain as the esper's hand continued to press deeper into his body. Still refusing to give up any information, the man remained silent, but the pain he was feeling began to take its toll. The sound of breaking ribs echoed throughout the walls of the allyway, followed by the agonizing scream of the man.
"Hey, aren't you making too much noise?" Mai wondered, nervously looking behind her.
"Sounds are nothing more than vibrations," Accelerator informed, "I can limit the amount of vibrations that escape within any given area."
"In other words," he said as he gave the man an evil smile, "make all the noise you want. No one can hear you scream."
At this point, blood began to pour from the man's mouth, "you're bluffing," he coughed.
"Try me," Accelerator immediately shot back.
Pushing his arm in further, the esper watched as blood fell from the man's open mouth onto the dry floor. Leaning in closer, Accelerator began to speak once more.
"Who are you?" he asked.
The man hesitated at first, but he eventually gritted his teeth out of both pain and defeat.
"We…we are the Dai Li," he mustered to say.
"The 'Dai Li'?" Azula interrupted, "What is that?"
"We are a secret organization who work for the Earth King. Our task is to limit the spread of information that may lead to political or civil unrest by subduing any individuals who threaten our task," he said through strained grunts.
"How did you know General Sung was being threatened by us?" Azula curiously asked.
The man turned his head to look at the princess, "each official operating within the government is given a series of secret answers to certain prompts. One question is 'At what time does the dragon sleep?', to which the individual will either answer 'When he has a need for slumber' or 'At the same time the lotus wilts'. If the person answers in the latter, then he/she is secretly stating that they have been compromised."
"I see, quite ingenious," Azula answered.
"Do the Dai Li have access to the Earth King's palace?" Accelerator asked.
"…of course," the man stated.
"Good," the esper said before he pulled back his other hand and delivered a powerful punch to the man's face, knocking him out.
"What are you doing?" Azula questioned as she approached Accelerator, "There were more answers we could've gotten out of him."
"Maybe, but if you want to complete your mission, you have to catch the General," Accelerator informed, "otherwise, he'll reveal our plans and our cover will be blown."
"We don't even know where he went. He could be anywhere by now," Mai stated.
"The Earth King's palace – he'll be headed there," Accelerator stated confidently.
"How do you know?" Ty Lee asked inquisitively, tilting her head a bit to the side.
"He's an official of the Earth King's government; if he has any information pertaining to the well-being of the city, he has to go to the palace to relay that information to someone else."
"I agree," Azula sounded, "it makes the most sense. The Earth King's palace is the center of all political power in the city; therefore, it would probably be the place to receive most information."
Mai crossed her arms as she leaned lazily against a nearby wall, "Well, what are we supposed to do now? It's not like we can just waltz into the Earth King's palace –"
"Hey, guys, look at me," interrupted a playful Ty Lee.
She was casually wearing the clothes of one of the Dai Li agents who had been knocked out.
"Check it out, I'm an earthbender," she said as she mimicked the movements of an earthbending attack.
As the three of them watched her prance around in the dark robe, Azula's face suddenly lit up with an idea.
"Ty Lee, you're a genius!" she exclaimed.
"I am?" the clueless girl questioned, allowing the hat to drop to one side of her face.
"Yes. Well, no more of a genius than me," Azula stated with cocky grin.
"What is it? Do you have an idea?" Accelerator wondered, causing the Fire princess to look at him with the same grin.
"If the Dai Li have full access to the Earth King's palace, we can use their uniforms to sneak into the building; from there, we can find General Sung, and stop him before he tells the Earth King about us," she said.
"Hmmm. Ok. Good plan," Accelerator said giving her a nod of approval, "but there are only three guys here, so one of us has to go without a uniform – I volunteer myself."
"Are you sure?" Azula asked.
The esper nodded once more, "yeah, it's not really my style. You guys should hurry up and put the uniforms on. I'll meet you at the palace."
"You're not coming with us?" Ty Lee asked.
"Nah, there are some things I need to do first," he said as he began to walk back through the thin alley way.
"Oh? And what is so important that you'd risk blowing your cover?" Azula inquired with crossed arms.
"I'll let you know when we meet back up," he returned without looking back.
The esper continued down the hallway until he was at the end; making a swift turn around the corner, the figure of the white-haired boy vanished.
End of Chapter 15
Author's Note: Hey guys, how's it goin'? So the last two chapters were mainly exploring the relationship between Accelerator and the rest of the characters; like I said, I'll still be keeping up with Aang and the gang, but this particular chapter was specifically geared towards Accelerator and his interaction with the avatar world. There are also a few scenes I added between Accelerator and Azula that may become more important later on in the story. Anyway, if you liked the chapter, don't comment – just kidding! (please comment, it's the only thing I value in this pitiful life.)