Chapter 25: The Breakout
Despite having no idea what was happening inside the Dai Li base, Mai decided to roll with the events as they happened. The women that had escaped were terrified, scared for their lives and had nowhere to go. Mai had little choice but to leave with them, as trying to help Zuko while the base was on high alert would only get her captured. It was also an opportunity that might never present itself again.
"This way," Mai shouted, ordering the women to follow her. Mai led them to the inner wall, near one of the gates to the lower ring. "Can any of you earthbend?"
Three of the two dozen women stepped in front of the others. "What do you need us to do?" one of them asked.
"Make a path under that," Mai ordered, pointing at the wall.
It only took the three earthbenders a few minutes to tunnel beneath the inner wall. On the other side were the city's worst slums, a place that even the Dai Li were afraid to enter. It was perfect for hiding from the authorities, or for smuggling contraband into the lower ring. Bypassing the gates into the city was necessary when Mai was certain that all of the women would be wanted fugitives.
"Where do we go now?" a young woman asked.
"I'm working on it," Mai answered. She looked around the slums, finding the streets nearly deserted in the middle of the night. Only one building still had lamps lit inside, a decrepit shack that looked like it could crumble at any moment. "In here."
Before Mai could reach the shack its doors burst open as a thug was thrown outside. She made sure the thug was out cold before approaching the shack, hearing the sound of combat coming from inside. Another thug was thrown out of the shack before Mai could gaze inside, making her wonder just what were people fighting over in there. Once she was close enough Mai looked inside the shack, finding half a dozen more thugs fighting three teenagers.
One teenage boy had a bow and quiver on his back, using hand to hand combat in close quarters. At his back was a girl wielding a dagger, slicing thugs that got too close. The third was another boy, wielding a pair of hook-swords. In the back corner were several tied up girls, all bound and gagged. One thug was about to earthbend a block of stone right into the hook-sword wielder's head, but his stone crashed into the floor as one of Mai's knives struck his neck.
In just under a minute the three teens finished the fight against the thugs, appreciating the help from Mai. While his friends freed the girls the hook-sword wielder approached Mai. "Thanks for the assist, miss…?"
"Lo," Mai answered. "And you are?"
"My name is Jet, and these are my freedom fighters."
Long Feng had been sleeping in his personal chamber in the Lake Laogai base when the alert reached him. Sentries guarding him had been reluctant to wake their leader in the middle of the night, only acting when they learned the security breach was from one of their own. Once Long Feng was awake and informed of the situation, he only took enough time to dress before leaving his chambers to attend to the alert personally.
Just outside his chambers Long Feng walked beside one of his senior lieutenants. "Which projects have been compromised so far?"
The lieutenant checked a scroll that he was carrying with him. "We've lost one of our Joo Dee processing chambers, an agent enlistment camp, and half a dozen interrogation rooms near the main entrance." He paused for a moment to carefully read clumsily scribbled notes that came next. "And the high security rehabilitation room is not responding."
"What!" Long Feng yelled, stopping in his tracks. He grabbed the lieutenant by the collar and shoved him into a wall. "We can't afford to lose that prisoner!"
"Permission to send all available agents to secure it?" the lieutenant asked.
"Granted!" Long Feng shouted, letting go of the lieutenant. "Do whatever it takes to make sure the Avatar remains under our control!"
"Yes sir," the lieutenant said, giving a quick salute before running off to give orders.
Picking up the pace, Long Feng hurried through the corridors. He made a small detour on his way to face the intruders, heading for one of the specialized rehabilitation chambers. Once he was inside the chamber Long Feng observed a mindbender and his patient, a young Water Tribe girl. This was the girl's second visit to Lake Laogai, making sure the mindbending procedure was done right this time.
"I'm in a hurry doctor, what's her status?" Long Feng asked.
The mindbender paused to address Long Feng. "I've repaired the damage to her conditioning from the last time she broke free of it, as well as strengthening the trigger phrase in her mind."
"Is she ready to fight?" Long Feng asked. Having a waterbender serve the Dai Li would be a great asset, when so few of them even visited Ba Sing Se.
The mindbender shook his head. "I need more time to eliminate variables that could break her conditioning."
"Work swiftly," Long Feng said, turning towards the door. "I might need her soon."
Still wearing the Blue Spirit mask, Azula kept watch inside the chamber that contained the Avatar. She wasn't paying attention to Zuko's experiment with mindbending, thinking that they should just kill the Avatar and get it over with. Azula would rather deal with a reincarnated Avatar a decade from now instead of one that could bend all four elements today. While the idea of making the Avatar obey the Fire Nation had merit, there was too much risk in Azula's opinion.
Having nothing to barricade the door with, Azula resorted to welding it shut with firebending. She melted the lock and the hinges, letting the molten metal seep into the crack between door and frame. Once the metal cooled it would take considerable force to break down the door, and provide ample warning time for the siblings inside.
Azula was about to tell Zuko to hurry up when she first heard something heavy slam against the sealed door. Another strike dented the center of the door, as well as a hairline crack in one of the welds. Zuko stopped his experiment, leaving the Avatar in the mindbending trance. More strikes dented the door further, starting to break apart Azula's welding. The siblings took firebending stances, preparing to fight their way out once the door broke down.
One large boulder broke the door down, breaking itself into dust from the force. Zuko was already throwing fire before the dust could settle, but Azula was waiting for a clear shot before striking. She had just enough time to see a little girl bend an earth wall in front of herself and a familiar Water Tribe boy. Azula only had a split second to make a decision, maintain her charade as Li Mei and possibly escape unharmed, or help Zuko and expose her true identity.
Instead of firebending Azula clenched her fist and punched Zuko, throwing off his aim and making his next fireblast hit the ceiling. With a sweep of her leg Azula tripped Zuko, making him fall on his back onto the metal floor. While Zuko was still stunned by surprise Azula grabbed his shirt and pulled his face close to her mask.
"Nothing personal," Azula whispered, only loud enough for Zuko to hear. Then she slammed Zuko's head back into the floor, knocking him out.
Just outside the chamber Sokka only saw the Blue Spirit defeating a teen that he recognized. "What in the world is he doing here?" Sokka yelled.
Toph stepped ahead of Sokka, crossing her arms. "Huh? It really is Sparky," Toph said. "For a minute there I thought my feet were lying."
Azula was about to make up a lie when she spotted the people behind Sokka and Toph. Spotting the Avatar's earthbending teacher and Kyoshi Warrior, Azula kept her mouth shut in case they remembered her voice. Behind them were twenty earthbenders, standing among bodies of their fallen comrades and dozens of fallen Dai Li agents. Staying silent Azula stepped aside, providing a clear view of the Avatar still in the chair.
"Aang!" Haru and Suki shouted. Suki hurried to her friend while Haru smashed the bright lamp inside the room.
It took Aang a few moments to snap out of the trance. "What the… how did I get here?" He looked around the chamber trying to figure out where he was. "Suki, Haru, what's going on?"
"Explanations later, escape now," Suki said, examining the manacles that held Aang's wrists to the chair. "Sokka, I could use your weapon right about now."
"Sokka?" Aang muttered. He looked around again, finding Sokka running over to Suki with his boomerang. "When did you get here?"
"Long story," Sokka said. He started hitting the manacle on Aang's right wrist with the sharp side of his boomerang, slowly cutting through it. It took him a minute to free Aang's hand.
With one hand free Aang stretched his right arm. "Hang on a sec," Aang said. Extending two fingers on his right hand Aang lit a small flame, then placed the flame onto the lock of the left manacle. A moment later the lock was red hot. "Try it now."
One strike on the hot lock broke it apart, releasing Aang's left arm. "You already know firebending?" Sokka asked. "Where did you learn waterbending?"
"In a swamp," Aang answered.
Sokka slapped his forehead. "So that's why you never showed up."
Still in the chamber Azula had no idea what Sokka was referring to. Counting on everyone else to be just as confused, she slipped out of the chamber before Aang could see and possibly recognize the Blue Spirit mask. No one bothered to stop her, paying more attention to the Avatar's rescue. While her mission had not gone as planned, Azula figured that there wasn't much more she could do. With the Avatar's waterbending teacher still unaccounted for, Azula figured he would bring down the Dai Li just to get her back.
Furious over the situation getting out of hand, Long Feng gathered as many agents he could find and led them through the base. Scouts reported that the intruders had aligned themselves with released earthbenders, all heading deeper into the base. Long Feng chose a natural cavern within the base for a showdown with the intruders, a place vast enough to hold a small army.
With a hundred of Dai Li agents at his back, Long Feng only had to wait a few minutes for the intruders to arrive. He found Toph leading the charge among released earthbenders. Among them were Sokka with the Avatar and two of his friends. And for some reason Long Feng couldn't figure out, they had a barely conscious teenage boy tied up and being dragged with them.
"Alright little girl, you've caused me enough trouble for one night," Long Feng said.
Toph laughed for a moment. "I suppose it's way too late to submit my two weeks notice?"
"You have so much potential," Long Feng said. "Do you really want to throw it all away?"
"Yup, I quit," Toph said, tossing her Dai Li hat aside.
"Men, arrest them!" Long Feng ordered.
Immediately the Dai Li rushed forward, bending rock projectiles at the intruders. Toph, Haru, and the other earthbenders formed a thick wall of rock to block the barrage. The earthbenders broke the wall and threw large pieces of it at the Dai Li, forcing them to break formation and scatter. Both sides charged at each other, clashing at the middle of the chamber. Rock flew everywhere as it was pulled from the floor and thrown from one bender to another.
After dispatching three agents on her own, Toph charged through the rest and ran towards Long Feng. Behind her were Sokka and Suki, hoping to get around Long Feng and search for Katara in the chambers beyond. Aang remained with the other earthbenders, throwing fire in addition to the earthbending. Both earthbenders and Dai Li started to fall, but they were of little consequence to Long Feng.
Before engaging the enemy himself, Long Feng sealed the passage behind him with a wall of rock. He bent a wave of stone at Toph, which she shattered and ran through. Then Long Feng made a column of stone rise beneath his feet, launching him into the air. Unable to see him in the air, Toph couldn't sense Long Feng bending the column of stone until it came apart.
"Look out!" Suki yelled.
Toph bent a wall of rock just in time to block incoming stone. At the height of his leap Long Feng bent a ledge of stone from the back wall to catch him. Just above him were stalactites hanging from the ceiling, inspiring Long Feng to turn them into weapons. He jumped and punched the ceiling, bending a shockwave that dislodged every stalactite.
Sokka helplessly watched Long Feng turn the chamber into a deathtrap. "Everyone watch out! Death From Above!"
Battle in the cavern ceased for a brief moment during the indiscriminate attack. Those who had been in the middle of a strike had no time to form a shield or destroy falling spikes. Earthbenders closest to Sokka and Suki chose to protect their liberators, at the cost of their own lives. Aang blasted fire at the spikes above him, exploding them into harmless dust. Near the entrance and still tied up, Zuko rolled into the corridor to get out of harm's way. Spikes crashed into the ground everywhere, skewering the unprotected and smashing against shields of stone.
Those who survived dug out of the rubble as dust settled. Of the Dai Li agents only fifteen were still alive, horrified that their leader considered them expendable. Three of the freed earthbenders survived, standing beside Aang and Haru. Sokka and Suki helped Toph out of rubble from her earthbended shield, coughing from the dust.
Back on his ledge above the others, Long Feng opened a passage in the wall. "Fools," he muttered before heading through the passage into the next chamber.
"Long Feng's getting away!" Aang shouted. He was about to run after him, but a thrown boulder from a Dai Li agent cut him off.
"He's mine!" Toph yelled. Though slightly bruised and tired from all her bending during the night, she still pursued Long Feng. She ran up to the original passage onward and reopened it with earthbending, then ran through with Sokka and Suki behind her.
On the other side was a smaller chamber with an underground stream flowing through it. Long Feng stood on a bridge that spanned the stream, facing Toph as she entered the chamber. "You've forced my hand," Long Feng said.
"Where's Katara?" Suki demanded.
Long Feng smirked and stepped aside, revealing Katara behind him. "Katara, the Earth King has invited you to Lake Laogai."
"I am honored to accept his invitation."
Immediately Katara pulled water out of the stream from both sides of the bridge, sending it straight at Toph and the others. Toph made an earth wall to block, and half of it eroded away in the attack. Redirecting the flow of the stream itself, Katara turned it all on Toph. Despite Toph reinforcing the earth wall, the full force of the stream broke it down and washed Toph away. Sokka and Suki leaped out of the way, both seeing the current slam Toph into a wall. For nearly a minute the force of the rushing water kept Toph pinned, until the current ceased and dropped Toph into mud unconscious.
"Katara! Snap out of it!" Sokka yelled. The only response he saw was Katara bending more water and throwing it at him. Sokka tried to get out of the way but slipped in mud, falling to the floor and closing his eyes before the water could hit him. But he felt nothing strike.
"Unbelievable!" Long Feng yelled.
Slowly Sokka opened his eyes, finding water hovering just inches from his face. He stood up and looked at Katara, finding her dilated eyes staring at him. Her hand was reaching forward in control of the water, but her fingers were twitching. Sokka could just barely make out Katara's eyes, contracting and dilating at random.
"Sokka…?"
Water splashed on the floor as Katara gripped her head in her hands. Her brother was the one person she would never turn on, no matter how much her mind had been tampered with. Katara screamed in rage as the conditioning failed to hold, and she focused her rage on the person responsible. In one swift motion Katara bent every last drop of water into a single torrent, throwing all of it at Long Feng. All of the water flowed around an earth wall Long Feng made in defense, hitting him anyway and covering him completely. Katara shaped the water into a sphere and froze the surface into a shell of ice, trapping Long Feng inside.
"Katara stop!" Sokka yelled, running over to his sister. "You're killing him!"
"He deserves it!" Katara shouted, watching Long Feng drown. She watched him try to break through the ice with his fists, burning up his air with each failed strike. "You die now."
Suki picked up Toph and faced Katara. "If we don't leave now, we will all die."
Breath escaped from Long Feng's lungs, his body going limp and sinking to the bottom of the water. Katara could hear the sound of battle just outside the chamber, sensing that she was needed there. She only needed to hold the waterbended sphere intact for just a few more minutes to make sure Long Feng drowned, a few minutes that could make all the difference in a fight.
Screaming with frustration, Katara shattered the ice sphere like an egg. The water spilled across the chamber, dropping Long Feng onto the ground and coughing up water. She wanted to crush Long Feng's throat so that he could never speak again, but there was no time to waste. Instead she turned around and left the chamber with Sokka. Behind them Suki carried Toph her, and on the other side the remaining Dai Li agents continued their fight. Only seven agents remained, fighting only Aang and Haru. Katara hit three of the agents with water from behind, surprising the rest long enough for Aang and Haru to make finishing blows.
"Katara!" Aang shouted, hugging her as soon as they were close enough. "Are you okay?"
"No," Katara admitted.
"We have to move!" Haru shouted. He turned towards the way out, finding an empty corridor. "Hey where did that guy go?"
"What?" Sokka questioned. He looked for Zuko, but only found the ropes that had bound him. The ropes had been burned through, the ends still smoldering. "Forget him, we have to leave."
All Zuko wanted as he escaped the Dai Li base was to get a good night's sleep. Climbing out of the hatch on the surface of the lake, he wondered if there were any convenient holes he could crawl inside and sleep in. The only hole he could find nearby was an earthbended tunnel wide enough for a group to pass through. On the other side were the lower ring slums, a place Zuko didn't want to get spotted in while tired and vulnerable.
But on his way through the tunnel Zuko sensed something was wrong. His nose picked up the scent of ash and smoke, urging him to pick up the pace. The exit of the tunnel was lit up by something on the other side. What did I miss? Zuko wondered when he reached the other side of the wall.
The lower ring was burning.