22 Chapter 22: Long Feng
When Team Avatar and the Earth King arrived at the outer wall, they were greeted by General Sung.
"Hello, Avatar and friends! What brings you- E-Earth King, Your Majesty!! I-I- Wha-?!"
*Slap*
Sokka walked up to the General and slapped him across the face and grabbed his collar.
"Get a hold of yourself, man!" Sokka yelled.
General Sung just rubbed his cheek and looked down.
"Sorry..." General Sung said timidly.
The Earth King approaches Lu Chen.
"So, where is this proof you have? Of the Fire Nation attack?" The King said with a serious attitude.
"Before I show you, I have to inform you that I lied about the war threatening to start." Lu Chen admitted.
"What?!" The King said surprised and agitated.
"Let me finish, Your Majesty. I lied about war starting, because it's not starting, it's already ongoing. The war started 100 years ago. The proof of an attic by the Fire Nation is just down there." Lu Chen said as he pointed down the other side of the wall.
The Earth King, still processing what Lu Chen had told him, looked down from the top of the wall and immediately spots the destroyed drill.
The King just stared at the drill with his mouth open in silent surprise.
"You weren't aware of the war because your Secretariat has kept this vital information from you, probably in to be in control of the entire country. He's using you as a puppet, a figurehead." Lu Chen explained.
Just when the Earth King was about to speak, an earth elevator came up, carrying Long Feng and two Dai Li agents.
Long Feng walked to the other edge of the wall to peer over and glance at the drill.
"Your Majesty, I can explain. This is simply a... construction project." Long Feng claimed.
"Can you explain why your little project has a giant Fire Nation insignia on it?" Katara refuted Long Feng's claim.
"...It's imported, of course. You know you can't trust domestic metalwork." Long Feng said.
"So why is your 'construction project', a giant drill, currently half way into the wall from the outside? Were you testing the integrity of the wall? Wouldn't just having earthbenders test the wall be enough? Face it Long Feng, no one believes you." Lu Chen stated.
The Earth King approaches Long Feng, first with sad eyes, then his face turns into a frown.
"Dai Li, arrest Long Feng. He will face trial for crimes against the Earth Kingdom." The King commanded.
The two Dai Li agents glanced at each other and used their chains to detain Long Feng.
"You can't do this, Your Majesty! I've been loyal to you since I first became your right hand! You need me!" Long Feng feigned protest.
"Looks like Long Feng is Long Gone! Ha! Ah, I've been waiting to use that one!" Sokka joked.
'...I'll have to deal with Long Feng later. Even if he's in prison, he still has control over Ba Sing Se. If I tell my team that, or the King, they'll just have him exiled. Even then, he'll just set up on some safehouse with the help of his agents and continue his control.' Lu Chen thought.
'The only way is to end him. Aang definitely won't agree and the others would agree with him. I'll have to do this alone.' Lu Chen thought as he glanced at his friends.
"Hey, Lu! What're you standing around for? Let's go home!" Sokka yelled from Appa's saddle.
While Lu Chen was contemplating the thought of killing Long Feng, the King had thanked us for opening his eyes. He told us to meet him in a few days to further discuss plans and called a few soldiers that were patrolling the wall to escort him back to the palace and left.
"Actually, since we didn't have much of a chance to eat at the party, I'm gonna go buy some food to bring back home to eat tomorrow. We gotta celebrate." Lu Chen explained with a smile.
"Oh, okay. Remember to bring some meat!" Sokka waved.
"While you're out, can you get me some orange mango juice, please? Thanks." Aang added.
"I'd appreciate it if you brought some seafood! Hopefully they have sword salmonfish." Katara said.
"Do you want me to go with you?" Toph asked.
"Nah. You can just stay home, Toph. I just need a little time to think." Lu Chen shook his head.
"Oh... okay." Toph said, looking a bit disappointed.
"See ya at home, Lu! Appa, Yip Yip!" Aang said.
Appa jumped off the wall and flew back towards Team Avatar's home, leaving Lu Chen on top of the wall.
'There's still just a bit of day left. I'll have a few hours to get to the palace prison and deal with Long Feng and the Dai Li, then get some food for tomorrow.' Lu Chen thought as he made his way down the wall.
When Lu Chen made it to the ground he closed his eyes and focused on using his feet.
'I can't exactly use earthbending on the surface, cause that'll ruin the streets of the town, so I'll borrow Gopher's technique.' Lu Chen thought.
Lu Chen focused and sunk deep into the ground to avoid any sewer systems, while leaving an opening for air.
He used his feet to orient himself. Lu Chen focused harder on his feet and located the general direction of the palace. He dove into the ground infront of him and 'swam' through the earth.
'Heh, I'm swimming on land. All I need to do now is walk on water.' Lu Chen thought as he remembered a certain old meme from his past life.
'Actually, I may be able to do that on salty oceans...' Lu Chen entertained the idea of earthbending the salt on the ocean to make a foothold.
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It only took Lu Chen an hour and a half to reach the palace grounds.
Lu Chen stopped and focused on the ground once more to detect where exactly the prison is.
'Hmm... Over there. Right next to where that crystal cave is.' Lu Chen recalled the season finale of Book 2.
'At least Aang won't die. Maybe I can convince Katara to cure Zuko's scar and release him of his father's mark. That may help him change since he will never go through that spiritual sickness since Appa wasn't captured and freed by him.' Lu Chen pondered.
Lu Chen soon reached the metal roof of the underground prison. 'Luckily I didn't slack on metalbending practice. The walls to these prisons are thick.' Lu Chen thought as he pierced a hole in the roof with his hand.
After making the hole, Lu Chen spread it open wider to fit through, and landed on the ground.
'No guards within a few dozen meters... Long Feng is being held... in the biggest prison room.' Lu Chen thought.
He made his way as quickly and quietly as he could.
Once arriving to the corner of the hallway where Long Feng's prison cell is, Lu Chen felt three presences, two standing, and one sitting. The presences are speaking.
'I can barely hear them... I wonder if I can use the vibrations I can sense to tell what they're talking about...' Lu Chen thought.
"We left... -etters... in view... Separate.... -atar and
...friends... We... -loyal to you." An agent said.
'Well, it's not perfect, but from what I could hear, they plan to separate... Team Avatar, I guess. Oh, that's what the letters were for. Toph's letter is obviously a trap. How would her parents even know she's in Ba Sing Se? It's those two buffoons who are chasing her, and probably me too. The last bit was probably the Dai Li informing Long Feng that they are loyal to him and not the Earth King.' Lu Chen gathered.
Lu Chen then heard a faint vibration coming from a bigger room just past the wall in front of him. He focused on the sound out of curiosity.
"Yo-... safe now. ...-war in Ba... -Se." One voice says.
"What... -mean?! Wh-... refugee... from?... -n't hide...!" Another, younger voice says.
Lu Chen's eyes open wide. 'That's Jet! He must've just fought Zuko and got taken here to get brainwashed. I guess I'll free him too." He thought.
'All right, since those agents aren't moving from the door, and metalbending isn't exactly quiet. It's time to get loud.' Lu Chen thought as he cracked his knuckles.
Lu Chen put his back to the wall, slammed his arms on it, and metalbended a metal suit of armor into himself. It completely covered his body, but he can still see through his feet.
Metal Lu Chen stepped out into view of the two surprised agents.
"It's showtime!" Lu Chen shouted.
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🆑🅾️🅱️🅱️🅰️ 🪨🗿
