Two agents threw their gloves at her. Before they could reach her, Katara encased both of them in water and froze them. Then she shattered the ice and stone, converted the shards back into water, and pulled it back next to her. She stretched the water out in front of her, freezing them into pointed daggers of ice. Aiming at all the agents, she threw them out.
The Dai Li jumped out of the way. Suddenly, a glove came flying and pinned one of Katara's wrists against the rock wall. With a grunt, Katara used her free hand to throw the last bit of her water towards the direction the glove came from. Then another rock came and pinned that arm back.
"This isn't over!" Katara shouted defiantly as she struggled against her restraints.
"Is it, now?" the head mused.
A voice spoke out from behind him. "No, it's not." The wall Katara was pinned to began to rumble. Large cracks shot through it. In the next instant, it shattered into thousands of pieces. Katara, now free, stumbled away. The rubble remained suspended for a second, and then flew in two large streams towards the head. He ducked, and the rocks raced over him. A figure standing in the doorway guided the rocks until they were two large blobs floating beside them. As they took another step into the teashop, the shadow slipped away from their face. It was General Jing Yin.
"The avatar and his companions have come to Ba Sing Se as peace ambassadors," she stated in an unforgiving voice. "To attack them is considered a felony to the Earth Kingdom. Furthermore…" An agent launched his stone shoe at her. Jing Yin stopped it in midair and shot it back. It slammed the agent against a wall, rendering him unconscious. "… Furthermore, you and your captain deliberately hid the presence of a high-profile criminal from the Council and the King. Doing so—." Jing Yin paused as three agents tried to flank her. She raised an arm up and opened her hand. The ground beneath the agents' feet suddenly yawned open into little craters and closed around their ankles. She closed her hand and jerked her arm down. Abruptly, the agents sank down into the ground to their necks. "—has allowed said criminal to claim the lives of several Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation citizens. For these actions, I have means enough to arrest you. You will be taken in and tried before the law. Your right to silence starts now."
At that moment, Aang and Zuko hurried into the teashop behind Jing Yin. "Katara!" Aang called out.
"I'm fine!" Katara replied. With a bit of water, she broke Jangzhen's stone shackles, and the two of them rushed to Jing Yin.
Scowling, the head looked at his remaining agents. "She knows too much," he told them. "Kill her, and we'll sort this mess out later!"
Aang raised his hands, prepared to take them on as well. Jing Yin held an arm to stop him. "No," she instructed. "These are my traitors. I'll clean them up." She pulled the cloud of rubble around her into a ring. Thrusting her palms outward, she shot pieces of rock outward in all directions, her arms turning into a blur. The agents continually weaved and ducked out of the way of the bullet-like stones. Aang noticed how instead of going through the walls, the rocks stopped and hovered around the perimeter of the room.
The agents lifted boulders and shot them at her. Still shooting out rocks, Jing Yin sidestepped out of the way of the projectiles and gradually made her way to the center of the room. When she had run out of rocks to shoot, she found herself surrounded by agents. All of them raised their fists. Just in the nick of time, Jing Yin summersaulted away as the ground where she stood jutted out stalagmites. As she came up from her summersault, she slammed her two fists together. Suddenly, all the rocks that hovered around the room flew in towards the center. As they converged, Jing Yin hardened them into a single piece, trapping all the agents in the newly formed slab of rock.
"She just took out all those agents with one move!" Zuko noted.
"Not all of them!" Aang said as he noticed that the head was bending a rock. "General, look out!"
Jing Yin looked up as the boulder was coming down on her. Suddenly, it stopped.
Arms quivering from the strain, Jangzhen held the boulder up. The rock teetered as the two forces pushed against one another. With a hateful scowl, the head threw the boulder at Jangzhen. Jing Yin gasped as it hit her son, throwing him through a wall. She turned and glowered at the head. The look in her eyes suddenly brought a vivid memory to Aang. He remembered seeing that look before. It was the day he learned earthbending. Sokka had gotten himself trapped in a crevice in the ground. Aang had seen that exact same look in the eyes of the saber tooth-moose-lion when she found him holding her cub. The head was in deep trouble.
"I was just going to arrest you," she hissed. "But you've determined your own fate."
"What are you going to do?" the head retaliated, pulling a large stone spike out of the wall and hurling it at her. Jing Yin caught it and swung it back around. As it moved, Aang saw the rock seemed to dissolve into nothing. Then Jing Yin made a motion as though she were throwing something. But nothing seemed to leave her hand.
The head suddenly froze in place. Then, slowly, he reached up with his twitching hands.
"The wall!" Katara whispered. "Look at the wall behind him!" As she said that, Aang saw it. Stuck into the wall directly behind the head was a small, thin rod made of rock. It was red with blood.
The head made a strange noise, like he was trying to groan but was gurgling water. He reached up and held his neck. A spurt of blood shot out from between his fingers. Katara gasped and grabbed Aang's arm. Aang himself could only watch in horror. The head finally collapsed. He spasmed for a few seconds until he was still. All the while, Jing Yin watched wordlessly.
With the head of the Dai Li dead, she turned back towards the trapped agents. Their faces were pale. Stomping a foot, Jing Yin broke the slab of rock. All of the agents fell over. Standing over them, Jing Yin announced coldly, "I hereby declare the Dai Li of Ba Sing Se disbanded." She regarded each of them with unsympathetic eyes. "Anybody who dares not comply shall share in the fate of their former leader. Do all of you understand?"
Scrambling up, the men bowed. "Yes, General."
"Go to the King and deliver him the news. Tell him that if he wishes to speak with me, he must wait. I have a criminal to deal with." As she turned away, she motioned a hand towards the dead body. "And the rest of you, give him a proper burial." She didn't wait to watch as they bowed again. Jing Yin rushed out of the teashop and hurried to where Jangzhen lay. He was just coming to his senses as Jing Yin crouched over him.
"I-I can't breathe," he stammered. Jing Yin put a hand over his forehead and shushed him gently.
"You'll be fine," she murmured. "Oh, my brave, brave boy. You'll be just fine."
Katara raced over and knelt down next to Jing Yin. "I can help him." She coated her hands with water from a nearby puddle and gingerly placed them over his torso. The water began to glow.
"He just seems to have a few broken ribs," Katara reported as she ran her hands back and forth. "I'll do what I can right now, but he'll need a few days to heal."
"Mom, I'm so sorry," Jangzhen wheezed out. "You were right. And I was helping them all this time."
"You have nothing to be sorry for," Jing Yin assured, stroking the hair out of his face. "They kept you and most of the other agents in the dark." Looking up at the others, she said. "I need to take him home. Avatar, I'm sorry to ask this of you, but—."
"You want us to take care of that innkeeper," Aang finished for her.
"Yes. I authorize you to bring him to justice in any way you can."
"Before we face him, can you tell us more about him?" Zuko said.
Jing Yin looked back down. "His name is Kang," she began. "He was a soldier in the Earth Kingdom army. Eight years ago, he betrayed his nation and gave them an opportunity that allowed the Fire Nation to break through Ba Sing Se's outer wall. Instead of rewarding him like they promised, the Fire Nation soldiers captured him and turned him back in to us."
"That explains his hatred for the Fire Nation," Zuko concluded. "So what happened after that? You threw him in prison and he somehow got out?"
"No," Jing Yin said. "The Generals decided that Kang had committed high treason and deserved death. I executed him."
"You what?" all three of them cried.
"The same way I killed the head of the Dai Li back there," Jing Yin said quietly. "Only it appears he managed to survive." She looked at Aang. "Do you remember when you mentioned the scar on his neck to me?"
Aang remembered. "That was from you."
"I feel like I am partially responsible for this," Jing Yin admitted sadly. "I failed to kill him, to even realize he was still alive! And now I've created a madman!"
"You didn't know," Katara said. "And the Dai Li were keeping him a secret from you."
"He got that idea from me," Jing Yin whispered. "The rods in the neck cuffs. Those poor girls…"
"We'll put a stop to this," Aang declared. He looked from Zuko to Katara. "We're heading over to that inn now."
"I've done all I can," Katara said as she removed her hands from Jangzhen's body.
"Thank you," Jing Yin said as she helped Jangzhen sit up. "Good luck, all of you. Take that monster down."
As they raced down the streets of the Lower Ring, Zuko's mind was a whirlwind of frantic thoughts. He hadn't seen Seiya since she had ordered him to stay away from her. But now he knew everything about her. The years after her disappearance, the truth about her and Silent Falls, and her children. She never deserved any of the cruelty she faced. He vowed silently that after this, he would make it all up to her.
Suddenly, he spotted someone familiar running towards them. Out of shock, the three of them stopped. "Seiya?" Zuko said incredulously. "What are you doing here?"
She looked terrified. There were tears streaming down her face. "Zuko, he's gone out to find them!" she cried, shaking all over. "He's going to kill them to punish me because I-I wouldn't hurt you!"
Zuko grabbed her and pulled her into a hug. Horrified, Seiya instinctively pushed him away. He quickly remembered why. Holding her gently by the shoulders, he said, "It's just me. I've got you." He wrapped his arms around her again. "I'm so, so sorry for everything that's happened to you. It's all been my fault. From now on, I'm never letting you go." He parted and looked her squarely in the eye. "Take a deep breath and tell me what's happening. Where has the innkeeper gone?"
"He's going to get Kani and Koru," Seiya explained. "They're outside the city. We'll never make it in time!"
"We can!" Aang said. He pulled out his trusty bison whistle and blew into it. It was only a matter of seconds before a large shadow covered them.
We've all seen damage done
To the ones we love and need
My head hurts 'cause I know
That it came from me
I'll be your bandage, girl
I'll wrap you up in me
I'm lying on the floor hoping you'll see
"Won't Let Go" by Kingsfoil
Addendum: Mama bear rage ACTIVATE.
I love earthbending. I don't know if you can tell, but I do.
Oh wait, but then the Dai Li come back. And in greater numbers, too.