Kai heaved a sigh as he led his battalion back to the palace. As with the past few days, the peacekeeping missions in Ba Sing Se was an ordeal of patience and empathy. Beyond assuring the cityfolk that they'd be fine if they behaved, there was the constant questions about the fate of the enthralled women from Lake Laogai.
"We're still working on it, I promise you," was all Kai and the others could offer, because it was true to an extent.
"The Dai Li are still being interrogated on freeing your women." That part was definitely untrue. It took only a week before every one of them broke under the relentless care of the 11th. Kilin and her waterbender healers were of immense help, while Yama and the other former Earth Kingdom prisoners helped to confirm certain claims.
All of them were talking by the end of the week, with only a minor price of gaining a fear of hot water. All it took was for Kai or his comrades to put on a pot of tea, and the Dai Li agents would start shaking and voiding their bladders. Thanks to the effective fear of being boiled alive, the insidious enforcers of Ba Sing Se eagerly provided everything that Xing and the princess would possibly want to know.
Priority information was collected first, as per their request, and then the Dai Li were locked away for the young couple's pleasure when they returned.
And while they did discover the means to reverse the enthrallment of the victims, certain issues about the procedure arose that bore some careful planning. After much cross-referencing between the Dai Li, it seemed very likely that banishing the shackles on the victims' minds might cause them to suffer an intense mental trauma as releasing the shackles from their minds could force some sort of mind crash.
The way Kilin had put it, it was like cutting off water from a field and letting it dry completely before releasing the dams again; too much water too fast, and the field would erode away in a messy tide of mud and dust.
Kilin and her people were still discussing how to approach this, and it was decided to wait for Xing and the princess to return to figure out how to proceed.
In the meantime, the 11th led patrols with the former defenders of Ba Sing Se to keep the populace in check. Working with people who would otherwise be prisoners of war was deemed a risk worth taking considering the size of the city. For their part, the Earth Kingdom army was generally cooperative, from the lowest conscripted private to its generals. It helped the regiment that a number of the Earth Kingdom soldiers had family brainwashed by the Dai Li and had a stake in how things progressed.
Kai could sympathize with the poor sods. To learn that you've put your life for the very people who preyed on your family… It was a darker parallel to the 11th's time under Colonel Lidai. At least Kai could be sure his family was safe, but practically forgotten by the home island still rankled. On both sides of the war, the soldiers on the front lines were fighting for the greedy, selfish interests of the nobility.
Except that at least in the Fire Nation they didn't steal away your sisters and wives and daughters; They had the decency to wait for your corpse to be returned before making any moves.
So Kai was thankful that his patrols in Ba Sing Se were generally uneventful. It was rare where dragging Mozi along to turn the women on their side didn't work, but even then, those cases weren't so bad. On Xing's orders, people were free to run their mouths and shake their fists, as long as no physical harm was done. In any case, it's the Earth Kingdom troops with them that did most of the placating, which, since they had an interest in keeping their fellow countrymen away from Xing's fiery wrath, they did a very good job of.
Most of the time.
The officers of both the 11th and the collaborating army understood that resistance could never be fully snuffed, especially in a massive city like this. All they could do was to convince the rest of the cityfolk that they had no reason to join the nutters. And conveniently, the occupiers had a clear threat to redirect the conquered citizens in the form of the Dai Li.
Xing allowed for the organization's reports to be made public, which included a massive list of people on the Dai Li's watch list, along with the reason for their scrutiny. From minor nobles whose loyalties seemed suspect, to the street side satay vendor who was being too welcoming of the refugees in the lower ring, it seemed that the Dai Li just needed a reason to entertain themselves with surveillance.
More damning were the ledgers keeping track of the Joo Dees. Personally, Kai, Toshi and Sungho felt it a mistake to let those things be publicized so freely. Toshi because he was still a gentleman enough to disapprove of the lynchings that followed, while Kai and Sungho felt it a waste of good blackmail.
But orders were orders, and the captains and the lieutenants of the 11th made formal appearances with Generals Yui, Fong and Sung of the Earth Kingdom around the major city squares to reveal the despicable uses of the Joo Dees. Within the day of the list of names being plastered on walls and announcement boards, several prominent merchants and nobles that remained were mobbed by furious fathers, brothers and husbands, and torn to shreds. Literally, in a few cases.
For better or worse, a majority of the names listed were out of the citizen's reach, having taken their king's lead and fleeing during Xing's solo capture. But it bought time and tolerance for the 11th, and with not even a gang of stupid youths trying to ambush patrols, Ba Sing Se was turning out to be an easier job than anyone expected.
Leave it to Xing to figure out how to keep a city.
As he entered the palace and his troops dispersed to find their bunks assigned throughout the palace complex, Kai found an exhausted Mozi lying on the ground, heaving for breath while Rufen and his officers watched over him with wry amusement. General Sung looked on as well, his face a mix of confusion and envy. Kai noticed that the whole group looked disheveled, as if they had just run a few jungle courses in their armor. Mozi looked like he'd been mauled by a pack of wolfbats.
"When you said they were after him, I didn't think it'd be as bad as that," the Earth Kingdom general said, panting softly.
Rufen barked out a laugh, and then nodded as he saw Kai coming over.
"Someone slipped in?" Kai guessed, but his friend shook his head.
"It seems that Mozi's reputation is spreading faster than expected. It was supposed to be a quick meet and greet in a market, right? But somehow the women there were waiting for us. Well, waiting for Mozi."
"They descended from the rooftops and upper windows with ropes," General Sung said incredulously, torn between horror and admiration of his countrywomen. "It was almost a perfect ambush."
"What gave it away?"
One of Rufen's lieutenants chuckled. "Their perfume. The air was so thick we were sneezing up a storm as we got closer."
Rufen sighed. "If not for our firebending, we'd all be tied down while they made off with Mozi. Or be forced to watch them fight over him. As it was, we barely could fend for ourselves with all the rope and cutlery being thrown our way, nevermind the perfume haze, so our lieutenant colonel had to non-lethally fight his way out of a tide of horny widows and spinsters." The captain of the 5th Battalion shrugged at Kai's blank stare. "We made it out okay, but it was probably the worst rout I had for a while now."
General Sung nodded in wholehearted agreement. "If we had soldiers with those women's single-minded ferocity, I'd say that you Fire Nation wouldn't be here right now."
That nobody took offense told Kai just how bad things got for Rufen's team.
"I…didn't…do…anything…" Mozi wheezed out, and only as the regiment's second in command turned his face to speak did Kai notice that Mozi's face was painted with various shades of smeared lipstick.
"Fucking Mozi." Kai recited ritualistically, and the officers of the 5th Battalion echoed the words gravely.
*****
It was disgusting how chummy everyone was being with the conquerors. What the Dai Li did was abhorrent and wrong, but there was no reason to simply roll over and allow the Fire Nation to waltz in. It was just throwing away one flavor of monster for another.
Still, Jet wasn't so stupid as to make a scene, not yet. Even the most hardcore resistance against the Fire Nation - aside from himself - wanted to wait until the Joo Dees were healed before doing anything.
Jet felt for them and their lost family, but they didn't get it.
The Joo Dees would never be recovered. The Fire Nation had brought them out to light to make them into effective hostages. It was hard to fault a man who hoped that his sister or wife could be healed and so chose to keep his head down for their sake. Jet understood their position, but at the same time he couldn't stand for it.
Hope was being used as a leash and collar. Hope was turning the people of Ba Sing Se no less docile than the Joo Dee women.
Someone had to take on the painful but necessary duty to sever that invisible chain of oppression and liberate the great city.
And that someone was Jet.
But the time was not right, not yet. Between himself, Smellerbee and Longshot, their resources and abilities were too limited. They needed allies- No. They needed compatriots, comrades.
Despite how much he loathed them, Jet still felt some gratitude towards the Kyoshi Warriors. They had taught him about the importance of having not just recruited the like minded, but the equally fervent as well. It was pointless to have a crew whose devotion to the cause wavered from simple propaganda.
It was an important lesson, and Jet promised himself to apply it carefully in Ba Sing Se. He'd have to find people who are just as hateful as he was towards the Fire Nation. People who had suffered from the monsters and were willing to do whatever it took to repay their suffering.
And to do that, they also needed to move out of the refugee quarter and find a target that would be most optimal to strike terror into the hearts of the arrogant conquerors. It was useless to have an army without a goal to direct it towards, after all.
The palace was useless, not only because of the impossibility of reaching it, but because its loss would not stop the Fire Nation at all. He needed to strike at someone, not something, and it had to be someone important enough. And they'd need to hit a lot of someones. Generals and high officials would be the most effective.
Maybe if he could bag one now, it'd help bolster the recruit pool?
Hm… No. Again, it was just the three of them right now, and Jet was aware that they were fighting in terrain that the Fire Nation was more used to compared to isolated forests.
So: Build up a strong and dedicated resistance, and then find targets to pick. It seemed like a daunting task, but he'd built up the Freedom Fighters before, he could do it again. Though this time Jet would seek out older recruits, adults who have had years to stew in their hate of the Fire Nation and would have sterner wills.
Some earthbenders would be nice too, but he-
"Jet! Hey, Jet!"
Smellerbee's voice broke him out of his thoughts, and Jet turned to his smaller comrade who seemed excited as she entered the shack they called home. Just behind her, Longshot appeared, giving only a silent nod as he unshouldered his bow.
"You're going to want to hear this!"
"What's up, Smellerbee?"
The androgynous fighter came up with a bright smile, and then crouched over with a hand cupped to her mouth for a hurried whisper. "I've heard news. The Fire Nation princess is coming back to Ba Sing Se!"
Jet broke into a grin.
"We'll need to find more members for the Freedom Fighters," he said, eliciting nods from Smellerbee and Longshot as he rose up from his cot. "We don't know how long she's staying over for, so let's get to work. Let's see if we can meet her, unlike the last time she was here."
Maybe they didn't need to go after so many someones after all.
They'd need to work fast and improvise a plan. The bar for entry into the Freedom Fighters would probably have to be lowered, and they'd likely have to borrow resources. It wasn't ideal, but then again Jet didn't care about getting a hero's welcome. Freeing Ba Sing Se was its own reward.