Not even the finest outlaw can confidently surprise a Dai Li agent, who are often the hunters. Which is why the gathered spectators could only wonder how a lone intruder had breached the secluded courtyards. Somehow, she descended perfectly in line with the blazing afternoon sun, forcing anyone who looked upward to shield their eyes from the brilliant glare. The calculated approach concealed her initial arrival until the very last instant, catching the dumbfounded Dai Li agents surrounding the prisoners completely off guard.
She offered neither proclamation nor warning. The lower half of her face was concealed beneath a thin dark cloth, revealing only a pair of piercing green eyes. She struck first at the two Dai Li aides operating the thumbscrew, striking one knee with a vicious kick before jabbing at another's eye socket. One unfortunate agent received a crushing downward heel to the spine, his silken robes and presumed safety within these sacred courtyards proving pitiful protection against such ruthless precision.
Ao Xiaofeng, his mangled thumbs still imprisoned within the cold embrace of steel, could only stare in disbelief. Even the boldest outlaw would never dream of invading this hidden world and expect to leave alive.
"B-behind you!" he gasped through gritted teeth.
The intruder had already sensed it. She twisted aside as the first earthen projectile screamed toward her. A stone fist hurtled past the lacquered armor, missing by inches. Its slower speed made the dodge almost effortless, but it had merely been a feint.
A second projectile burst forth. This one resembled an open palm and aimed precisely where she was expected to evade. Her remaining golden war fan snapped open in a flash.
Steel met stone.
The sharpened edge shattered the earthen gauntlet into a cloud of jagged fragments, yet the impact surged through her arm with startling force. The muscles in her shoulder tightened beneath the blow. Only then did she appreciate the frightening strength behind the Dai Li's restrained Earthbending. Their attacks lacked the spectacle of regular Earthbending foes, but definitely not power.
Still masked, the intruder fixed a fierce glare upon the man who had nearly killed her. His helmet bore a band of yellow, distinguishing him from the others. Yet he remained perfectly composed, both hands audaciously hidden within his voluminous sleeves as though the failed attack had required no effort whatsoever.
With one war fan raised and her free hand clenched into a fist, she settled into a defensive stance before the four condemned trainees. Facing her stood dozens of silent Dai Li agents.
Curiously, none of them moved.
"Save yourself," Ao Xiaofeng muttered, wincing as bruises darkened around his crushed hands. The heavy cangue still imprisoned his neck and wrists, making escape impossible. "The four of us may survive this… but the same cannot be said for trespassers."
Few lived after violating another's sacred sanctuary, or so the intruder assumed this vast labyrinth of hidden courtyards and shadowed alleys to be. Whatever mysteries governed the sprawling bureaucracy of Ba Sing Se, she had not come this far merely to abandon those who had aided her.
"Not until I've rescued every one of you." Her fierce eyes and the edges of the metal fan swept across the courtyard, watching for even the slightest movement among the assembled Dai Li. Yet they remained unnervingly still.
Perhaps Shan had been right during his lessons on political philosophy. Lifelong Earthbenders preferred patience over haste, allowing their enemies to create the opening themselves. A single reckless decision on her part could hand them precisely the opportunity they sought.
"I demand their release!" the trespasser shouted, her inpatient voice ringing against the courtyard walls. "What are you waiting for? Release them, or fight!"
More Dai Li arrived, appearing in their usual neat rows whenever they present themselves. The surrounding courtyard walls became lined with near-identical guardians clad in silken robes and conical helmets. They vaulted effortlessly onto rooftops, nearby balconies, and elevated walkways, surrounding the lone intruder from every conceivable angle.
To any rational observer, only someone unimaginably dangerous or utterly obtuse would willingly walk into a fortress crawling with the Earth Kingdom's most infamous kingmakers. Even just defeating one of them is no simple feat.
Sensing the mounting tension, the sergeant calmly raised a single hand.
No one advanced, and no one attacked. Every agent remained perfectly still.
At last, the audacious intruder received some form of acknowledgment when the instructor himself stepped forward with measured confidence, each footfall echoing across the stone courtyard. In response, Satchiko quickly leveled her gleaming golden war fan toward him, its polished steel catching the afternoon sun as the two regarded one another in absolute silence.
"I commend your courage," the sergeant said. "Though you are not one of my students, you would have made a remarkable aspirant had you entered these halls under far different circumstances."
Satchiko's blood simmered. She demanded that the Dai Li abandon their empty courtesies and release the four condemned youths. Though the linen veil muffled her words, the meaning rang with simple clarity. If mercy would not be granted, then she would personally fight every agent standing before her.
"A noble sentiment," the sergeant replied. "But one perhaps conceived without the guidance of wisdom." His voice remained the same even after realizing someone had brazenly and successfully breached the security. "Surely you understand that, despite your extraordinary training in stealth, defeating every agent gathered here is an impossible feat. Unless of course, you possess the power rival that of an Avatar." He tilted his head ever so slightly, revealing a pair of weathered eyes clouded by age yet sharpened by decades of vigilance, perhaps even more than aware what the power of all four elements combined can accomplish. "Heed my words, young one. There is no cause for bloodshed between this city's guardians of culture and the faithful custodians of the shrines and statues dedicated to Kyoshi herself."
"What?"
Silence settled over the courtyard. Even Ao Xiaofeng and the three other trainees stood frozen, their expressions betraying utter disbelief. The revelation had been delivered with such casual certainty that it struck harder than any stone gauntlet.
As for the intruder, who seems to have been given time to process, struggled to understand it all so quickly. How had these wretched masters of secrecy uncovered her true identity? Her false name had been guarded with unwavering discipline, exactly as her sister had instructed. She had never allowed it to slip, not even while befriending the four aspirants to learn more about their precise and disciplined style of Earthbending.
"You were never quite as subtle as you believed, Kyoshi Warrior," the sergeant said, a faint edge of criticism entering his otherwise composed tone. "Although I welcome the glorious return of your order to the mainland, it is regrettable that your first act has been to interfere with the discipline of four disgraced aspirants, thereby jeopardizing the harmony of Ba Sing Se. As legendary as the Kyoshi Warriors may be, I fear your fate shall prove less stellar than those you came to rescue. So, I urge you, devoted servant of Avatar Kyoshi. Surrender peacefully and seek amnesty. The director himself possesses a greater capacity for mercy than many of us here."
For ordinary laymen, whether humble peasants or the loftiest nobles, the mere sight of a single Dai Li agent was enough to inspire dread. Yet here stood more than sixty of them, silently encircling the great courtyard like an unyielding stone wall. Every one of them a master Earthbender that rivals battalions of soldiers.
To remain standing in defiance of such a force was not courage alone.
It was an invitation to death.
"No." Satchiko tightened the grip around her golden war fan and raised it toward the encircling agents, her challenge unmistakable. "Expect no retreat from me."
Then, with deliberate resolve, she removed the linen veil entirely. The crimson and white face paint met the eyes of every foe present, unmasked and utterly unafraid despite the impossible odds.
The sergeant released a weary sigh, almost disappointed. "Your defiance is… admirable."
At the moment the words left his lips, all the Dai Li agents acted.
The first volley was not a charge. Instead, countless steel surveyor chains erupted through the air in perfect unison, their iron cuffs snapping open like jaws, aiming to ensnare Earthbenders who cannot remove such interments with their innate gifts.
Satchiko moved. She twisted, parried, ducked, and spun through the storm of flashing steel. Her eyes widened as chains blurred past from every direction, transforming the world into a whirlwind of silver arcs.
Within that relentless tempest, a single flash of gold danced defiantly, cutting through the blizzard of steel cacophony, war fan batting away chains that came too close while buying precious fractions of a second to evade the rest.
With a fierce cry, she slashed downward, deflecting an iron cuff that came within inches of locking around her free wrist. Agility also became her greatest ally. She relied upon every lesson drilled into her since childhood, matching the secret police step for step as a testament to the shared martial heritage both organizations traced back to the same progenitor.
Then came the change.
A sharp sting tore across her right leg as a razor-edged shard of stone grazed her armor, drawing blood. Another projectile slammed into her shoulder guard before ricocheting harmlessly across the courtyard.
Soon the sky itself seemed filled with death. Steel chains lashed through the air while hardened pellets of earth also rained alongside them, each volley carefully timed to punish whichever direction she chose to evade.
The war fan became less a weapon than a shield, preserving precious energy as exhaustion slowly settled into her limbs. She darted between projectiles with desperate precision, every dodge consuming strength she could never recover.
Had this mission not demanded the rescue of the four trainees, someone who relies on stealth would never have allowed herself to become trapped in such an open ground. A dire scenario filled with attrition like this one is unfavorable even to the strongest.
"Cease!"
The sergeant's command echoed across the courtyard.
Instantly, every surveyor chain stopped mid-flight, falling to the granite pavement. Earthen gauntlets crumbled back into loose stone as dozens of Dai Li agents withdrew their hands into the cavernous sleeves of their robes, assuming the statuesque posture for which the secret police are infamous for.
Not a single agent advanced. So little threat is perceived in the intruder that none of the sentinels felt urgency to immediately apprehend the audacious trespasser.
Satchiko still stood, but only barely. The courtyard pavement around her was littered with shattered fragments of stone gauntlets, broken lengths of surveyor chains, and countless splinters of earth where projectiles had struck and splintered apart.
She remained upright through sheer determination. Golden war fan raised but posture trembling. While hidden bruises blossomed beneath armor, fresh cuts stained her clothing. Every measured breath concealed the mounting pain threatening to bring her to fell forward to the floor.
Yet, her gaze never faltered. She stood as though daring the entire Dai Li to discover how much strength remained within a single person. But the dents marring her lacquered armor did little to convince the assembled sentinels.
"Please… just yield."
It was Zhu Di, risking his own neck by breaking silence without permission.
The Dai Li sergeant overseeing the scene granted Satchiko a brief moment to surrender, to abandon the futile attempt to save four trainees who had already forfeited the state's trust. Yet even that narrow path vanished with the arrival of another figure.
"The last trespasser who dared breach these training grounds were subjected to slow slicing. The crows feasted on open wound before the executioners had even finished their work."
The courtyard shifted.