Avatar; The Royal Firebender.

Smoke and Jade.

The stench of rusting metal, blood and tears wafts through the underground lair of the Dai Li. The screams of those being incarcerated are silenced by slamming doors as each are dragged into the reeducation centers and brainwashed. Descanters, prisoners, even former firenation soldiers, one by one they're all brainwashed and indoctrinated into the city with no memory of who they once were. The secret tunnels run all over the city, not a single place is out of their reach. Entrances where no one would think to look, and others that hide just as well in plain sight. Two junior agents sit beside each other in a small cafeteria, a pai sho table set up between them. Both with barely the whispers of facial hair on their faces, their eyes still bright with naivety and youth. One of them picks up a rose tile and prepares to place it on the corner to complete a harmony on the board. "Game, set ma-" He's about to speak when the wall beside them abruptly explodes into a shower of pebbles and dust. Both agents spring to their feet, their hands outstretched and fists clenched ready for a fight. However the man who escapes the dust is one of them. His eyes crazed and bloodshot, his hat slightly burned and his clothes tattered.

"Shen?!" The younger of the two exclaims as Agent Shen stumbles up to him, he clutches the younger agent's robes and hoists himself up.

"It knows... bloody arms... spider's arms... blue mask... the bending... the bending wasn't right... it's a demon!" Shen rambles, his burned hands clutching tightly against the younger man's tunic. The two men exchange a glance before Shen rushes over and grabs the other man. "Xaolan... You... you have to believe me... it's not human!"

"Shen just calm down, what happened out there?" Xaolan questions, trying to help his friend to his feet but Shen just continues to ramble.

"You don't understand... it knows..." His voice comes as a whimper, his bloodshot terrified eyes gaze up pleading with Xaolan for help. "It let me live... wanted witnesses... it knows... it knows what we've done... it's coming for us." Shen pleads before letting go, his rambling turns to insane laughter as he grabs the corners of his head. "It's under our skin... it's in my head... it asked about the bison... the spirits are angry!!!" His shouts echo through the halls of the hidden prison.

All around him, doors open and dozens of women appear like phantoms. Their hair perfect, perfect posture, their smiles ever present, their robes without a single crease out of place. The manufactured figures all wore the same empty smile, the only variation between them is the color of their eyes and the definition of their cheeks. All of them, Joo Dee's. "Agent Shen, please come with me, you need rest, need food. Everything is fine now." A younger looking woman with pale green eyes and chocolate caramel colored hair speaks but Shen's madness has already taken root. "No! Don't say that... Don't smile like that! Get away from me!" He roars, crawling backwards with his hands and knees to a corner in the room. They step closer, another Joo Dee appears from the shadows, their smiles empty, unmoving. "Be calm, there is no war in Ba Sing Se." They say in unison but Shen lashes out again. "Shut up... shut up shut up shut up SHUT UP!!!" He screams, quickly bending a tomb around himself as he huddles his knees around his chest.

"Silence." The voice of a senior officer cuts through the maddening cacophony of Joo Dees. "Shen." He pauses, waiting a few moments for him to calm down. "The Earthking has Invited you to Lake Laogai" A second later, the walls he had created to cover himself recede into the floor and he stands to his full height. His eyes no longer crazed but dilated as he stood perfectly still.

"I am honored to accept his invitation."

On a throne of jade, steel and silver, Long Feng twists his mustache slightly as he reviews the movements of Team Avatar. He reads over the report from a Joo Dee, how the avatar threatened them if they stood in his way of rescuing the bison. "The Avatar may be a figure of authority and peace on the world stage, but not here. Not in my city, it seems that the time for subtlety may be over and more drastic measures may need to be taken." His voice is just above a whisper as he monologues to the small statue of a badgermole sitting on his desk. Beside him, an hourglass has its last few grains fall to the basin below. "He's been gone for three hours now." He says aloud before grabbing the hour glass and rotating it once again. The pearl sand within begins to fall again, counting the time before the doors to his private chambers open.