A.N.: Thanks for the review! And to new readers; don't be shy! Tell me what you think! Ouch.. ooch.. some sad and painful things in this chapter… Yes, the chapter has two titles.
Chapter Three: I was always a player or Neighbor
"We're under attack!"
The three Dai Li Agents, standing at the threshold of the bunk room's entrance, each stomped a foot to the ground in unison causing three large chunks of the highly polished stone floor to rise up and hover in mid air. Zhi watched as the chunks rotated serenely, floating in the air, before the three agents thrust their fists forward sending the stones hurtling into the room like missiles.
Two Fire Nation soldiers narrowly dodged the incoming stones but a third was not so lucky; a chunk struck him, crushing the soldier into the wall at the back of the room.
The green robed attackers launched another volley of fractured floor into the bunk room sending the troops inside scrambling and leaping for cover, they were unable to mount an offensive with boulders whizzing by their heads and could only wait and hope for help to arrive.
Zhi felt helpless without his weapons and hopelessly pinned down, but then, there came a reprieve from the relentless storm of rock. The Agent to the right was about to bring forth another chunk from the now pitted floor when an unexpected blast of fire caught him from the side.
The stricken Agent cried out in agony as his robes burst into flames and he fell sideways into his comrades. A familiar voice echoed down the hallway from the direction of the other bunk room's entrance. "Time to earn your pay, gentlemen!" shouted Sergeant Zhuk, whom Zhi knew was, as the group's leader, the only Firebender in the unit.
The Dai Li officer, who had lead the Agents in their attack, leapt back and rushed away down the hallway, leaving his remaining subordinate to face the Fire Nation soldiers, now charging from the other bunk room.
Those who had been pinned down sprang from their places of cover and rushed the lone Agent, overtaking him with their spears and swords in a fury. Zhi, though unarmed, save for his knife, followed after them into the hallway where the two groups of soldiers converged.
Zhuk, often seen asleep or just acting lazy, had taken control of the situation in an instant. It had surprised Zhi how different Zhuk became when there were things that needed to be done and he thought briefly back to his first battle as a member of the Third GI Platoon in the Xai Fong Steppe.
But there was no time for the young soldier to reflect on past events, the Corporal who'd visited the brothel earlier that day was instructing all unarmed troops to swiftly arm themselves and return to the hall as quickly as possible.
Zhi sprinted down the hallway and into the bunk room; he reached his bunk and snatched up his sword, attaching the strap to his belt. He then reached for his pole weapon, still exactly where he'd left it upon returning from that morning's patrol. In his haste, however, he left behind his helmet which still sat upon the floor beside his bunk.
Pm. Zhi promptly joined the other members of his unit in the hallway, the sun had set now and the only illumination came from the oil lamps that lined the wall, their soft light dancing across the armed and very serious looking group.
Everyone was quiet as they waited for their orders, a few watched Zhuk waiting for him to speak, while others watched as the unit's medic inspected the inert form of Corporal Huế, who lay upon the ground with his back against the wall.
Zhi looked down upon the body of the fellow that he had, only moments before, been enjoying a rather one-sided game of Pai Sho with, the young soldier could see that the Corporal's crushed chest armor glistened with blood.
"He's gone, Sergeant. I'm sorry," said the unit's medic, solemnly. Zhuk knelt down and closed the late Corporal's lifeless eyes before quickly muttering Agni's prayer for the dead. "The other soldier that was hit?" asked Zhuk, addressing the medic.
"I'm afraid he didn't make it either, sir. These Agents are.. very precise," replied the medic, speaking slowly.
Zhuk gave a nod and grunted, but before he could speak another soldier pointed out at the city beyond the chest high wall. "Look out there," he said, a confused look upon his face.
Zhi, who'd been gripping his Guan Dao tightly, hungry for vengeance for his fallen comrades turned with the rest of the group and peered out at the city. Surprisingly, the city, which was normally brightly lit in the evenings, was almost completely dark. One could just make out the occasional flashes of light that flickered amongst the barely visible buildings down below.
The group watched in silence, a gentle breeze blew into the hallway and with it came the faint shouts and cries of men engaged combat as well as the scent of smoke.
Zhuk cleared his throat, "I don't know what's going on out there or in here for that matter, but I know one thing; we've got to reach Governor Yung. Now, form up, soldiers!" barked the Sergeant and with that the group formed into two lines, one behind Zhuk and the other behind the brothel Corporal.
The two lines jogged forward down the hallway toward Governor Yung's quarters; the former Earth King's master suite.
Zhi was ready for a fight and there was no time to waste.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o
With the discovery of the switched sign Zou had ordered his caravan to turn around at once and head back towards the fork in the road. The veteran Quartermaster had considered the motives behind the sign switch, it could have easily been a prank executed by Earth Kingdom delinquents but Zou could not shake the strange feeling that there was something more to it.
With a few cracks of the drivers' whips the caravan had accelerated and soon reached the fork. Instead of continuing down the road back towards the port near the Serpent's Pass, Zou ordered them to turn up the route that had been indicated by the sign before it had been switched.
The last rays of the sun were disappearing behind the city when Zou's caravan reached the wall. The soldiers, drivers and their Quartermaster leader dismounted their respective wagons and Rhinos and slowly walked to the head of the caravan, all eyes fixated upon the sight before them.
The wall that had once been breached was now near fully repaired and towered above the caravan. Scattered about, at what had once been the Fire Nation's checkpoint and entrance into the city, were the bodies of Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom soldiers.
No one spoke; there was nothing anyone could say. The city that had resisted the best the Fire Nation could throw at it for over one hundred years had seemingly escaped conquest once again.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o
Zhi's unit had picked up speed as they raced down the halls of the Royal Palace to the Governor's suite, the walls all seemed a blur to the young soldier as he followed the fellow in front of him.
They rounded a corner; standing before them was the Dai Li officer, now accompanied by four other Agents. Zhuk launched a blast of flame that rocketed down the hallway as the rest of the group charged forward. One of the Agents raised a barrier of stone that blocked the flames, but this was quickly over taken by the soldiers who leapt over and engaged the five Earthbenders in hand to hand or hand to rock combat.
The wave of red and black crashed upon the Agents who quickly tried to put some distance between themselves and the deadly spears and swords that flashed through the night air. Zhi saw a flash of green amongst the frenzy and jabbed his polearm in the direction where he'd last seen it.
Zhi's weapon caught only air, but as he carried through with the jab, bleeding off his momentum, he noticed one of the Agents scrambling up along the wall beside him, clearly using some sort of advanced Earthbending. The young soldier changed his grip upon his weapon and brought the point over to his right.
The sharp tip of the Guan Dao's crescent shaped blade caught the hem of the Agents robe and sparked as it drove through the fabric and met the stone wall. The Agent felt the tug and realized he'd been caught, he tried to jerk away but the well-made fabric would not give.
Zhi tried to focus as the other soldiers and Agents clashed around him, concentrating solely upon the fellow who he had snagged. The young soldier took a step forward and let out a shrill howl as he brought the counterweighted end of his weapon around, aiming for the Dai Li Agent before him.
The Agent swiftly ducked out of the way of Zhi's swing, the counterweighted end clipped off the golden prong atop his conical hat and sent it spiraling into the darkness. It was now the Agent's turn to strike and he let loose with the earthen glove on his right hand.
Zhi was still completing the swing, the end of his weapon clanging off the wall, when he saw the Agent preparing to attack. He tried to swing his Guan Dao's blade up and over his head then down upon the Agent but he only managed to free the blade and start the swing when the earthen glove, trademark weapon of the Dai Li, struck him in the side.
Despite his armor, the rock fist struck a hard blow, the air was forced from the young soldier's lungs as he was knocked hard against the wall, looseing his grip upon his weapon. Zhi staggered backwards, trying to catch his breath, as his Earthbending adversary prepared to launch another attack.
He managed to get a good lungful of air and leapt forward, reaching for his sword, his hand gripped the handle and the sword slipped free of its strap at his left hip. Zhi brought the sword up in a slashing motion from left to right but the blade stopped before it connected with flesh.
Zhi stared dumbly at the blade of his sword, now firmly grasped in the gloved hand of the Agent. Zhi's wide, gray eyes traveled up the length of the Agent's arm to his face, the Agent grinned sadistically for a split second, but this would be the last act of his life.
Another sword slashed in from the corner of Zhi's eye striking the Dai Li Agent's arm, the Agent howled in pain and stumbled backwards, tripping over Zhi's lost weapon, landing upon the stone floor. Before he was able to get back on his feet another Fire Nation soldier came forward from the darkness, spear point angled downward, and delivered the deathblow.
When the sword had sliced into the Agent's arm he had released his hold upon Zhi's weapon and the Polearmsman had quickly sheathed his own sword. Spotting his Guan Dao lying upon the ground, Zhi caught the tip of his boot under the weapon's shaft and popped it up into the air where he caught it with both hands.
Zhuk shouted over the clamor for the group to move forward, they'd lost six of their men to the Agents but not one of the Earthbenders was left standing.
Despite their losses, the group forged ahead down the darkened hallways of the Palace where they soon came to an intersection, Zhuk turned about, looking down each hall to get his bearings. Zhi took a moment to inspect the group; their numbers had indeed diminished and he could not spot young Ning anywhere.
He was no stranger to war, and had lost friends before, but it still stung, it struck him, how fragile life was; people you'd been with one minute were dead the next.
Sergeant Zhuk seemed to have found the way and lead his troops down the hall to their right, Zhi had no time to mourn the dead, his commitment to his country came first and his will remained unshaken, he charged on with his fellow soldiers.
It was not long until the group reached the entrance to a large room, its ornate doors were closed to the Fire Nation soldiers but that did not deter them from taking the shortcut to Governor Yung's sleeping quarters.
Zhuk carefully tried the doors' knobs but they would not budge, locked from the inside. "Prepare to breach," said Zhuk, stepping back from the doors. The soldiers lined up at both sides, ready to surge into the room, Zhi the third one from the door in the second line.
"Breaching!" shouted Zhuk charging forward. The gruff Sergeant kicked hard against the doors, his foot connecting just below the two knobs. There was a great crack and the two doors flung open, crashing against their stops. Before the doors swung closed from the force the two lines of soldiers charged into the room and fanned out.
Zhi looked about, his eyes had adjusted to the dark and as far as he could see, the room was occupied only by a large conference table, chairs and a few statues but nowhere did he see signs of the enemy. The group made their way slowly through the room towards the doors at the opposite end, each soldier holding his weapon at the ready.
Once the room was confirmed clear the soldiers relaxed a bit and prepared to move out into the hallway that would lead them directly to Governor Yung. But before Sergeant Zhuk reached the door, one of the soldiers near the conference table pointed to the ceiling and shouted something about bats.
From the stone ceiling nine Dai Li Agents, firmly planted upside down like terrible Earthbending bats, began raining rock down upon the Fire Nation soldiers, caught off guard and confined in the conference room below.
"Get out! Get out into the hallway!" roared Sergeant Zhuk before a fragment launched by the Agents struck him at an angle, sending him spinning crazily into a wall.
Many tried to escape the hail of stone by racing for the doors at the ends of the room but they were soon cut down and buried beneath the ceiling fragments. Zhi shoved the soldier in front of him out of the path of a falling chunk but the impact tossed him into the side of the large stone conference table.
His right upper arm met the table first, there was a sickening pop and a terrible pain shot through his shoulder and arm as he tumbled to the ground. Zhi groaned and cradled his right arm with his left, slowly rising to his feet, he looked around the room, which was now permeated be an unearthly silence.
A Dai Li Agent landed gracefully upon the rubble littered table next to Zhi and the young soldier turned to face him. "You… dirteaters!" shouted Zhi defiantly, now realizing he was unable to fight with his injured arm and shoulder, though how much damage he'd suffered was not clear.
The Agent preformed a series of swift movements and the floor beneath Zhi's feet shifted sending him tumbling backwards, his head striking a statues' base. The Polearmsman never really felt the impact, to Zhi there seemed to be a great burst of stars before his eyes, then darkness.
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Unlike the rest of the city, Throne Room of the Royal Palace was well lit, candles and braziers burned providing ample light for those coming and going. Upon the former Earth King's throne there sat Long Feng, a pleased expression upon his face.
The Grand Secretariat watched as a Dai Li officer approached the throne and bowed. "I have the latest reports for you, sir," said the Agent. "Yes?" replied Long Feng, peering down upon the officer from his elevated position.
"The Palace is ours, sir. The Firebender unit was the first to be ambushed, there were no survivors. Both of the Non-bender units managed to put up a bit of a fight but we were able to contain and destroy them, there a six survivors; five of which we do not expect to survive the night."
The new ruler of Ba Sing Se nodded to his subordinate. "Excellent, and what of Governor Yung and the rest of the city?" he asked coolly. "Last I heard our men had apprehended the Governor in his quarters, they should be arriving here with him shortly. As for the rest of the city, sir, all reports indicate that Fire Nation forces were caught off guard and quickly crushed."
Long Feng gave another curt nod, "And the wall?"
The Dai Li officer cleared his throat, "The wall is nearly completely repaired, sir. It was wise of you to have our men sink it beneath the ground instead of just demolishing it," he said, attempting to earn the new ruler's favor with a compliment.
"You are dismissed, Agent," said Long Feng, considering the news. The Agent bowed deeply and strode off to assure that the Fire Nation's Governor was being escorted to the Throne Room as quickly as possible.
The Grand Secretariat, or as he now liked to think of himself; the new Earth King, smirked to himself. He thought back to his first attempt to take control from the Fire Nation's Princess, remembering her words; "Don't flatter yourself. You were never even a player."
His smirk curled into a cruel smile, How wrong you were, Princess. I was always a player, and your leaving has cost you the game.
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Far from the light and comfort of the Throne Room, across the grounds and deep in that cold, iron hell known as the Ba Sing Se Prison, alone and silent in her cell there sat the young, former leader of the Kyoshi Warriors.
Morning or evening? Day or night? What day was it? Suki had lost all track of time; there was nothing but four walls around her and a long torch-lit hallway before her, this was now her world, and had been for the past week.
She was the last survivor of the Kyoshi warriors, of those who had survived the fight with the Fire Nation Princess and her friends, two had been executed by the Princess herself with the intent of instilling fear in the others. Suki could vividly remember the terrified looks upon their faces before their Royal captor had taken their lives in a flash of blue flame.
Before being taken to the prison, Suki, along with one other surviving warrior, had been stripped of their possessions and given only the tattered brown robes, which she still wore. They'd been blindfolded and made to walk many miles, where exactly they were taken neither knew.
Eventually they had reached the undisclosed destination and were kept in a large tent. Their hands and feet were bound and they were kept under constant surveillance by Royal Guard Firebenders. Here, they were fed very little and received occasional harassment from the Princess up until they were told she had better things to do.
The next night they were marched from their tent and forced into the back of a covered wagon. Suki had tried to get free of her bindings in hopes of escaping but the other warrioress had become listless and lacked the will to even consider escape. Suki could not leave her friend behind and resigned herself to remain at her side in hopes of getting through to her and escaping later.
When the wagon finally stopped men in green robes wearing conical hats had leapt inside and dragged the two young women out. The men had forced Suki to her feet but her friend would not stand, they prodded the poor girl and Suki had shouted at them and ordered them to stop but they had not listened to her.
She was forced away from her friend, yelling and cursing the men to the Unagi all the way as she was lead to the entrance to the prison that loomed in the darkness. The spirited Warrioress had resisted and fought the men, wriggling from their grip several times, only to be recaptured by their earthen gloved hands.
With great difficulty they had eventually deposited her into the cell she now occupied, she had yet to see the other girl since their separation.
Some time later Suki received a visit from the Princess of the Fire Nation. She had come dressed in Suki's own robes and armor and mocked the captive warrioress, sharing with her the fate she had planned for city and the Avatar. Suki had turned her head and refused to listen to Azula, which the Princess had found infuriating.
Soon, however, the demonic young woman tired of talking at the defiant warrioress and promised that she would return, after the city was hers, and make Suki pay for her insolence. Suki had, fortunately, heard nothing more from the Princess and tried to remain strong, but as time passed she began to feel pangs of doubt.
Now, she sat hugging her legs to her chest, head resting upon her knees, a tired hopelessness in her once bright, blue eyes. Will I ever see the sun again? My home? …Sokka? she thought to herself. Her solitude was broken, however, by the metallic creak of a door at the end of the hallway and the light that spilled forth into the cell block.
Suki took her head up from her knees and peered down the hall from between her bars; from the doorway emerged two of the "Green Robes", as she'd dubbed them. She then noticed the figure between them; the two men were half dragging half carrying someone.
The young warrioress watched as the "Green Robes" approached with their seemingly inert burden, they passed by her cell without even giving her a glance and stopped at the one next to hers. One man held the figure around the waist while the other produced a ring of keys and unlocked the cell's door.
Suki moved slowly across her cell to the bars that separated her space from the other cell and watched the "Green Robes" silently. The figure was roughly laid face down upon the cell's floor by the first man before her rejoined the other outside in the hallway.
The second man shut the door and relocked it, he then turned to Suki, "I hope you enjoy your new neighbor," he said, with a sarcastic tone and the two of them turned toward the cell block door and walked quietly away. The young woman watched them leave then turned her attention back to the person in the next cell, now clearly illuminated by the nearby wall torch.
Suki pulled back, away from the bars in shock, but her curiosity soon overcame caution and she inched back over. The "new neighbor" was none other than a rather slim looking Fire Nation soldier. He, yes, she was now sure it was a he, was laying face down, where the "Green Robes" had left him, but she could still make out some things.
His armor was very similar in appearance to that of the non-bending soldiers that had attacked Kyoshi Island when the Avatar had visited, but she could tell he was a bit smaller in stature than they had been. The unconscious, she was sure of this by the faint sound of his breathing, soldier lacked a helmet and she could see the thick black hair, put up in a top-knot, upon his head.
Suki pressed her face against the bars to get a better look; she noticed a strange lustrous object lying on the hard cell floor beside the soldier's neck, it was a delicate looking flame pendant made of gold or another precious metal. She could see it now, the just barely visible chain attached to the piece of jewelry, it was a necklace.
She continued her inspection feeling some contempt for the nameless, faceless soldier; he was, after all, Fire Nation. It was his Princess who had killed her friends, his Princess who had locked her away in the prison. But despite the disgust she felt there was a strange curiosity too, just why was he here? Beside her now, locked away just as she was.
A.N.: Well, there you have it, chapter three. I hope everyone enjoyed it; I admit it was a bit tough to write. For the fight scenes I got myself a broom and an old paper towel role and acted them out so I could better describe it. It was also rather difficult to write and think up the harsh conditions Suki has endured. Azula is quite a monster… Anyway, let me know what you think! Happy readers make me happy!