Long Feng’s Shadow Guard 1

-The work of the Dai Li is to always hide within the shadows whilst working, away from the gratitude of the people and into the fears of those who know of them.

It's a job that requires discipline and loyalty to Ba Sing Se…

Something that I don't really see in Long Feng, especially after being tasked to shadow guard him four years ago.

As far as I could tell, Long Feng always worked for his own selfish interests of ruling over Ba Sing Se. Yet despite knowing this, we- the Dai Li, have decided to let Long Feng continue doing what he has been doing since he has a brilliant mind.

A mind that can help safeguard the lives inside Ba Sing Se.

Whether this will cause the downfall of Ba Sing Se or it's rise, only time will tell.-

***

Closing the small journal in his hands, Zhu pocketed his pen and small book into his green coat.

"The Avatar has come to visit Ba Sing Se."

Zhu heard from down below from a man walking out of the royal palace.

Hanging from the roof using his Earthbending, Zhu looked to the ground where he found Long Feng walking away.

'Time to follow,' thought Zhu, crawling in the dark.

As one of the various personal shadow guards of Long Feng, Zhu had to constantly follow Long Feng wherever he went.

Even whilst he slept.

Being on the late watch turn, Zhu's clock out time from shadow guarding Long Feng will be coming soon.

Making their way over to the palace gates, Zhu followed Long Feng out of the palace where they met up with the other Dai Li that were looking at the flying bison making a slow landing on the ground.

"You've arrived, Zhu," said another Dai Li when they noticed Long Feng's shadow guard.

"Mm. What's the situation?" asked Zhu as he joined up with the shadow patrol guard, one of the guards who patrols in the darkness compared to the regular Dai Li who patrol 'openly'.

The Dai Li nodded and looked at Appa Express making a safe landing.

"The Avatar was spotted by the gatekeepers and the news traveled fast via a note from an arrow. It was discovered that they were on their way here to the royal palace after figuring out their trajectory…"

"They must be here to seek an audience with the Earth King regarding the Fire Nation," inferred Zhu after taking one look at the Avatar group and the serious looks on the faces of the majority of the group.

"We've been getting a lot of those lately," muttered the Dai Li.

"…"

Zhu nodded and continued to observe the Avatar's group.

"Hm?"

Suddenly, Zhu frowned when he saw one of the Avatar's companions look at him for a second.

'Did he see me?'

Believing to have been seen, Zhu retreated further into the darkness. His eyes were focused on a young man carrying a metal staff, wary of him.

"What's wrong Zhu?" asked the shadow patrol guard.

"That young man… I'm pretty sure he saw me," said Zhu. "Guiren, keep an eye on him for me."

Guiren, the shadow patrol guard, nodded and turned to look at Genji who was standing next to Toph, "I can do that."

Keeping their eyes and ears on alert, the Dai Li were ready for anything.

Once Long Feng and Aang's group began to move, Zhu and the rest of the Dai Li began to follow.

Most of the Dai Li had dispersed whilst a small group stayed together and began to follow behind Long Feng and Aang's group.

"Please take a rest in the bedrooms…"

Arriving at the guest section of the Royal Palace, Long Feng had given Aang and his companions access to some rooms.

"Zhu…"

Seeing Long Feng's night shadow guard appear, Zhu nodded and turned to look at Guiren who was still next to him.

"Tell me what you find about the Avatar's friend," Zhu told Guiren before turning to leave.

Crawling away in the darkness, Zhu entered a secret passage where he switched out of his clothes and into his civilian attire.

It wasn't long before he made it out to the exit of the secret passage and appeared at a store within the middle ring of Ba Sing Se.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Yang," said Zhu as he left the store and headed home.

The entirety of Ba Sing Se was filled with secret passages and various stores owned by the Dai Li. In this manner, they gather information and are able to keep a check on their various visitors and immigrants.

In order to keep the war away from Ba Sing Se, the Dai Li resorted to brainwashing, something introduced by Long Feng.

"Work is always the same…" muttered Zhu as he sighed and entered his house.

Taking off his clothes, Zhu laid down on his bed and fell asleep with a tired mind.

A mind tired from having to brainwash the various visitors and even their own people.

He may not be the smartest man, but even he knew that there must be some dangers with forcefully tampering with the minds of the people.

Hell, he's heard of various stories from his neighbors of people who had begun to lose their memories, forgetting who they are, unable to stay focused, blanking out…

From their descriptions, Zhu definitely knew that the majority of these people were those who had found out about the war and the Fire Nation.

As much as he tried to fool himself by saying that it is necessary in order to keep order and peace within Ba Sing Se, Zhu despised seeing the majority of the people within Ba Sing Se depressed.

…

Knock knock!

"Ngh…"

Knock knock!

"Ugh… I just can't rest…"

Groaning in displeasure, Zhu got up from bed and wore his clothes.

Knock knock!

"Hold your ostrich horses… I'll be there…" groaned Zhu as he stretched and walked over to the door.

"Zhu! You wouldn't guess what just happened last night!"

Without any warning, Zhu heard yelling and furrowed his eyebrows in annoyance before turning to look at Guiren.

"What is it?" asked Zhu, annoyed.

"It's the young lad you had me keep a watch over! He did something… I'm sure he did something!"

Zhu frowned, this time for a different reason.

Pulling Guiren into his house, Zhu looked around, hoping no one heard them before entering the house.

"What do you mean? What did he do?!"

Grabbing onto Guiren's shoulders forcefully with a serious look on his face, Zhu stared him down.

"Huh, uh… I'm not sure. But since the talk he had with Long Feng last night, things seemed weird…"

"Weird? Weird how?"

"I'm not too sure, but according to Long Feng's shadow night guard, the night at Long Feng's room was weird…"

"Again… how?"

"There was knocking all night and Long Feng was supposedly seeing shadows of the knocking culprit."

"Knocking? Shadows?"

Zhu put on a serious look on his face as he rubbed his chin and thought about what Guiren was telling him.

"Is there anything else?" asked Zhu, a bit curious.

Guiren nodded and continued, "According to the night guard, the knocking would constantly arrive when Long Feng would get into bed and just before he falls asleep, there's a loud knocking that jolts him awake."

"That must be annoying…" mumbled Zhu, remembering how Guiren had just woken him up. Rubbing his face in a tired manner, Zhu sighed. "The Avatar's companion…"

"Should I do something about him?" asked Guiren after noticing the look on Zhu's face.

Shaking his head, Zhu smiled, "There's nothing that says that the Avatar's companion did it himself. Even if he did, it's up to Long Feng to fend for himself."

Guiren nodded at what Zhu said, "That's what I thought…"

"In order to lead us, our leader needs to be able to pass through every obstacle life sends their way," explained Zhu as he freshened up with a wet rag before heading out with Guiren.

They both walked and talked as they headed back to the royal palace through a secret passage.

"Did you get someone to keep an eye on the Avatar's companion?"

Guiren nodded, a weird look appearing on his face, "I did, but there's something I have to tell you about that guy."

"Which guy, the avatar's companion or the guy who is watching over him?"

"The avatar's companion… I don't know how he does it, but he constantly slips past me. It's like he's playing with me," said Guiren, a frustrated look on his face.

"Hm… sounds like an interesting guy…"

"That's all I had to report. I'll be heading home now to my wife," said Guiren, turning around and leaving.

'First he spots me and now he's been evading Guiren's detection…'

Zhu smiled whilst he took out his notebook and wrote in it.

-The Avatar's companion seems like an interesting guy.

…-

Whilst writing within his small notebook, Zhu walked over to the royal palace to prepare to enter his late time duties.

"Did you hear? Zhong was fired by Long Feng!"

"What did he do? He doesn't seem like the type to mess up… especially after working here for 14 years…"

"Turns out that Long Feng didn't get to sleep all night and he was woken up by some rookie. Zhong ended up being blamed by Long Feng and eventually fired…"

"That's idiotic. Did no one try to correct him…"

Suddenly whilst writing, Zhu heard something interesting. He put away his pen and notebook into his pocket and approached the group of Dai Li.

"I heard they corrected him, but they ended up being fired as well."

Zhu frowned after hearing the group of Dai Li before smirking.

'Is this what that kid is up to? Destroying us from the inside?'

Stopping his approach, Zhu smiled and a he furrowed his eyebrows.

'If that's so, then I will have to get back at him as well! If he was only attacking Long Feng, the Dai Li would stay back and watch. Yet he's attacking the Dai Li as well…

I can't let this contin-'

"Sir Zhu! I can't find the guy you and Guiren wanted me to keep an eye on!"

"Hm?"

Zhu turned around with a frown on his face.

Can't find him?!

"When did you last see him?" asked Zhu.

"Out in the open area near the garden!"

"Let's go!"

With a serious face, Zhu quickly changed into his Dai Li attire and ran out to where the Dai Li mentioned.

"What's your name?" asked Zhu as he glanced at the Dai Li with a scrutinizing gaze.

"Cai Zhaohui!" responded the Dai Li nervously.

"You're a fool, Cai Zhaohui," berated Zhu. "How could you leave the area, you should have sent another Dai Li agent to report this.

Rather than leave the area for a long time and possibly put at risk the possibility of the Avatar's companion appearing once more, Cai Zhaohui should have stayed in the area to continue the search. Tell another Dai Li to report the news of not being able to find the Avatar's companion.

Cai Zhaohui stayed quiet and followed closely behind Zhu as they ran.

"Hm?"

They soon appeared at the open area near the garden where they found Genji there, training.

One look at Genji and Zhu instantly turned to face Cai Zhaohui with a glare. However, he didn't yell or berate, instead he fell silent when he noticed Cai Zhaohui's astonished and confused face.

'If Cai Zhaohui is like that… did the Avatar's companion really disappear?'

"S-sir?"

Hearing Cai Zhaohui's concerned voice, Zhu turned to look at him for a while, studying him, before speaking up.

"Continue to keep an eye on him. We'll talk about this later…"

"Yes sir!"

Seeing Cai Zhaohui's repenting and serious look, Zhu nodded in approval before walking away, but not before taking one last glance at Genji.

!!!

A smirk.

Right on Genji's face, was a smirk as he glanced over at him and Cai Zhaohui with mocking eyes.

Those golden eyes staring right at him, Zhu began to feel chills down his back before turning around and leaving.

'He didn't see me… no… he didn't… I'm so far away and in the dark… there's just no way!'