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Lake Laogai	By : TheDaiLi Category: Avatar - The Last Airbender > General Views: 56841 -:- Recommendations : 3 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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The subject had been prepped for him several minutes ago in room two-five-three-six, and Dai Li agent Shin Wong was purposefully taking his time getting there. With any luck the other agents had followed his instructions correctly and made sure to make her earth-bindings a little bit tighter and more uncomfortable that usual. Everything hinged on this first impression; if it went wrong, then training the subject would prove most difficult, if not impossible.

He looked over her file one last time before arriving in front of the room and handing it to a guard. It wouldn’t do to have her believe they had examined her life so closely to have made detailed reports of it. He took a few seconds just to breathe before entering, mentally filtering out his normal training of duplicity and distance that usually accompanied these lessons; neither would do him any good here, a more honest approach was required. Finally composed, Wong let out a short breath and bended himself inside the room to meet the person he’d be working on.

Ty Lee was uncomfortable and nervous. Uncomfortable because when she was bound to the earthen chair she found herself sitting on the guards had basically squeezed her into her restraints, and nervous because she had not been in a room like it since she had been brought to the facility, meaning something new and unusual was bound to happen to her. Maybe that brainwashing thing Azula was talking about, with the lanterns?

She frowned, looking around her dimly lit room. There wasn’t a lantern or a track for it to revolve around, just another chair like the one she was secured to, facing her, and a small table between them with a candle on it. Azula hadn’t said anything about this if it was a part of brainwashing. There was also a smell about the place…lavender?

She shifted uncomfortably, a small groan escaping her lips. She was beginning to lose feeling in her legs, and she couldn’t express it due to the stupid gag they put on her. At least it didn’t obstruct her breathing…but that was little comfort, given that the band around her chest did.

Suddenly the area of earth that she took to be a ‘door’ slid away, a single agent stepping through. She was immediately taken by how different the aura on this one was than the other agents she had seen; it was warmer, a bright yellow, sparking some interest in the man. As he looked her over, she noticed he didn’t have that bad a face either, hard lined, but not too serious to her eyes.

Suddenly he waved his hand toward her, and Ty Lee cringed in her seat as best she could, expecting some more restraints or some other painful earth-bending to be performed. Instead, she felt the earthen bands restraining her loosen, not enough to let her out of her seat or move appreciably, but enough so that she didn’t feel them crushing her anymore.

“I’m sorry about that, sometimes the other agents get a little over-zealous when restraining dangerous prisoners,” He said sympathetically, taking his hat off and creating a small stand for it on the side, “My name’s Shin Wong, and you’re Ty Lee, right?”

She still looked somewhat scared of him, but looking in her eyes he could see a lot of confusion and suspicion there too. This was probably the first ‘nice’ act anyone had done for her since she had been captured so she was naturally on edge.

He gave something of a smile, holding his hands up in an apologetic manner as he sat down across from her.

“Ah, I think I better explain first; I’ve been put in charge of looking after your well-being while you’re here under the lake. I must admit its not a responsibility I’m particularly fond of, but I try to do it as well as I can, you know?”

She stayed quiet, but her eyes flicked down a touch, towards her gag, and then back up to him.

“Oh, yes, that. Unfortunately that’s part of policy for when we first meet prisoners, if I took that off you now I’d likely get in trouble.”

Shin looked down to the floor and crossed him arms, thinking.

“Well, we’re going to be meeting up like this daily…I’ll see what I can do; it can be removed if I don’t think you’ll be too mean to me.” He said with a smile.

He looked up and saw some apprehensive amusement and gratefulness of her own answer back. He reached forward and lit the candle, sending flickering orange light around the room, greater than the green coming from what looked inside the ceilings.

Ty Lee watched him carefully as he reached forward and lit the candle, though she didn’t shirk away from him. Her original assessment of the man had proved true so far, he wasn’t here to hurt her, that much was certain, and he hadn’t seemed to lie to her either. Infact he seemed more than happy to help her, within the rules he was presented. The acrobat wondered idly if she could use that to her advantage, in time.

She looked up from the lit candle back to him, questioningly. There wasn’t much light before, but at least it was enough to see by. He seemed to catch the meaning; this Shin Wong was rather astute, too.

“Ah, I never really liked the green lighting about this place,” He confessed, “It never feels ‘warm’, y’know? Not like this light.”

She looked back down at it and noised her agreement. Orange flames did seem a lot warmer.

“And prettier too.”

She had to agree. Maybe it was the Fire Nation in her, but orange flames were just plain nicer to look at than any other type of flame she’d seen.

“I particularly like candlelight.” Shin went on, in an almost nostalgic tone of voice, “It sways and flickers really gently compared to most flames; not noisy or showy, just gently. Relaxing. It’s a very relaxing thing just to watch.”

Again, Ty Lee had to agree with him, the candle infront of her was wavering up and down a little, the little movements giving the flame charm, and its consistency made it very pleasing to stare at. Relaxing.

“And the more one stares at it, follows its movements, the more interesting it seems, the more relaxing it becomes. More relaxing and interesting, more one wants to look at it. Over and over, around and around. Strange, isn’t it?”

“Mmm…” Was the noise she made in reply, still looking down at the candle, eyes not so much interested now as they were enraptured.

Shin doubted that the girl had noticed the green lights dimming around them, but that was just as well. He was glad that this seemed to be working so well on her; almost unexpectedly so, infact. He hazarded a guess that she was big on meditation, or was, at some point in her old life.

“Very strange at how you get so relaxed from looking at the flame. So relaxed at how you can’t look away. The more you look the more relaxed you find it, the more relaxed you find it the more you look. Like a spiral, going around and around. Relaxing and watching, watching and relaxing.”

The other lights dimmed to nothing now, leaving nothing but the candlelight there, nothing to distract her gaze. She didn’t seem to notice, her attention taken almost completely by the candle at the moment, but only the moment, only as long as he continued. If he stopped or faltered at this point it would be childsplay for her to snap out of it, and perhaps even realise what he was doing

“And the more you watch and relax, the more you notice your breathing slowing, growing deeper, relaxing just as you relax watching the candle, the spiral going around and around, relaxing deeper and deeper the more you look and the slower you breathe.”

Shin was right, the candle WAS relaxing. She hadn’t realised how tense she was before now, feeling her muscles slacken as she stared at the candle, but not paying any particular attention to the sensation. Looking at the candle was more important.

“You can feel the flame melting away the candle, just as you feel it melting away your tension, feel your breathing slow and relax. So relaxed now, you haven’t noticed until now how heavy and tired your feet feel. So heavy and relaxed as you look at the candle.”

Shin was right, she hadn’t even realised how heavy and tired her feet were until he mentioned it; like lead weights attached to the bottom of her legs.

“Let them relax now, warm, heavy and comfortable and asleep as the strange, relaxing feeling rises up into your legs, making them tired, making them warm and heavy.”

It felt good, letting her feet fall asleep. They were so tired afterall, and now they were warm and relaxed. She wished her legs would sleep too, now that they were getting tired. The flame would help, surely….

“Legs now falling asleep, becoming warm, heavy and relaxed. Letting the feeling spread into your stomach now…” Shin carried along, his voice having long since gone from nostalgia to a careful, warm, yet commanding tone, gently dominating her sensations.

As he continued the induction, one of dozens he had performed, he marvelled at how responsive she was being as she slid under. Her whole body was drooped in her restraints now, half-glassed eyes focusing on the candle, nothing really behind them as she breathed slowly, deeply. It was amazing was a little trust could open a person up to.

And why shouldn’t she trust him? Even what he was doing now was no terrible thing, she might even have wanted to relax anyway. Shin never intended to hurt his subjects…if anything, to make their lives easier under the lake. Better this than the lanterns or the needles, he always thought. He carried on, her chest now having ‘fallen asleep’.

“And now you notice your arms and hands falling asleep, so tired, so heavy. Let them sleep now, as you watch the flame, becoming warm, heavy and relaxed.”

It was something he thought he’d never get over, the way in which his subjects relaxed, when they gave up all that tension. He watched her hands uncurl a little as she let them relax, fall asleep. He found it a little…well, cute, actually. Like with every other series of limbs he relaxed, he loosened the restraints once again, to allow her to feel even more relaxed, even more free.

“Now the heavy, tired feeling creeps up your neck, making it feel warm and heavy. Let it sleep now, warm relaxed and heavy. Now the feeling spread to your head, making it feel so heavy, your eyes so tired.”

He marvelled as she tried to keep herself awake, blinking heavily as she fought against sleep to look at the candle.

“Let yourself sleep, Ty Lee, sleep and listen, still able to see the candle in your mind’s eye as your whole body feels warm, relaxed and heavy. Sleep, Ty Lee…”

The girl let out a sigh before her head slumped down as far as the straps would allow. As a matter of courtesy, Shin removed it completely, letting her head droop down as far as she wanted. She was one step closer to helping herself.

****

“…Five.”

Ty Lee blinked and looked up at Shin. She felt...really, really relaxed. More relaxed than she had in weeks, maybe months. She was also rather confused. She looked around the green-lit room, the candle infront of her noticeably smaller now, and out.

“What happened?” She asked, feeling a little bewildered by everything, not even realising that her gag was missing.

“Ah, you were just looking at the candle and you dozed off,” He admitted, “More importantly, do you remember the button?”

She frowned. The button? Oh yeah, she remembered that.

“The button on my forehead that makes me relax? Sure, what about it?”

“Nothing really,” Shin replied, reaching forward and touching her forehead, “Just relax now, Ty Lee. Relax and sleep.”

She sighed in lazy contentment as she sank back down into warm darkness.

****

She dreamed. She was being massaged by soft, strong hands that made her feel limp and boneless and soooo good. She just lay on the table and let it happen while a voice, the strong man’s, made light conversation with her.

“I bet your sisters would be so jealous of you right now.”

“…Yeah…” She let it roll out. They’d be annoyed they were missing out on this sort of special treatment.

“They can’t do half of thing things you can do, I’d say. None of them are as acrobatic as you, are they?”

“No,” She replied, a silly smile gracing her face as she said it, “I’m the most acrobatic.”

“And the most flexible.’ He added, working out what must have been a particularly bad kink from her lower back.

“Uhh…” She sounded, arching a little, “Yeah…flexible…”

“It’s good to be flexible, isn’t it?” The hands said, making her body turned to jelly, “Good to be so open and flexible.”

“Yeah…” She drifted, feeling too good to disagree. Not really wanting to disagree…

****

“You must be hungry,” Shin said, holding up a bowl of soup, smiling sheepishly, “Umm, do you mind if I feed you? It’s against policy to remove your arm restraints. Besides, I’m not too fond of being paralysed, you know?”

“Nah, that’s okay Shin, I understand,” Ty Lee replied, smiling beatifically while her arms floated in the air, unrestrained by anything other than her mind.

But a mind was a powerful thing, the Dai Li agent knew. Shin smiled gratefully and began to feed her, the slight eroticism of the act not lost on him…or on his captive, it seemed, who had a smile that was half-nervous, half coy. He decided to make with some conversation to break the tension a little.

“The restraints aren’t too tight, are they?”

The acrobat flexed her hands a little, but her arms didn’t move anywhere.

“No, they’re fine. Having your arms above your head for too long makes ‘em hurt though,” She paused for a second before slowly adding, “I…kinda wish you’d restrained them to the chair, like everything else.”

He halted in feeding her, rather surprised she’d suggest something like that. Rather surprised that she was ‘assuming’ she’d always been restrained like she was, when he had given her no suggestions supporting it. She looked down at her lap, understandably embarrassed at how ‘okay’ she was with being bound, her hands clenching and unclenching themselves in their invisible bonds.

“Well, uh, I can re-secure them now, if you’d like?” He asked, rather unsure with his own answer.

“You can?” She said, a little surprised he even mentioned it, “But aren’t you worried I’ll paralyse you?”

“Will you paralyse me?” He asked levelly, looking down at her, the bowl now on the table behind him.

She looked uncertain for a heartbeat as she looked back at him, weighing the pros and cons of doing it, but she eventually relented and shirked away from his gaze.

“No.”

“Promise?”.

“Yeah, I promise.” She replied, a smirk on her face.

He reached up, and took hold of her wrists, gripping them firmly in his hands whilst she looked on.

“Release.” He said firmly, and with a small shake, the bonds that held her arms in the air evaporated, their weight now being held solely in his hands.

Slowly, gently, he brought them down to her sides, placing them on the armrests. He looked up at her. They were…very close to each other, and she wore a very seductive grin on her face even as her eyes locked onto his dutifully.

“Now your arms are bound here.” He said, before releasing them and moving back.

Ty Lee looked down at her now immobile arms, flexing them, testing them out. No use. The bonds were just as strong as the ones he’d used to secure them over her head, her hands were the only things that could really move. At least the restraints weren’t uncomfortable…and the other part of her plan seemed to be working.

“Thankyou.” She said demurely, although the look on her face was anything but demure.

“Nnn.” He noised, turning away to pick up the bowl again.

Men were so easily controlled if you just act the right way around them. She doubted it’d take even a day before she gets him to trust her enough to remove these bindings altogether, and when he did, oh would he be sorry.

Still. She felt bad for the guy. He obviously isn’t a threat to her, and he’s been nothing but nice whilst they’ve been…what have they been doing? Ty Lee supposed it didn’t matter. All she knew was that this really nice guy could help her escape. Maybe when all of this was over and the Fire Nation owned Ba Sing Se, she’d track him down for a bit of night-time ‘fun’.

Shin returned with the bowl, smiling a little dopily as she opened her mouth to let him feed her. She made particular effort to slide her tongue over the spoon, as well as swallow deeply.

“Mmm, this is good. Who’s the chef?” She asked. And it was true; the soup was much better than what she got in her cell. Maybe she’d see if she could stay around this guy instead of returning to her cell if it meant this sort of treatment.

“I don’t know, actually. We have a small catering area, I managed to get this from there with no real problems.”

“Ah, that was nice of you.” She complimented.

Huh. She didn’t remember him slipping out for this soup either. Maybe he got it from when she dozed off? That wasn’t that long ago, was it?
Either way, the soup vanished in quick order, Ty Lee licking her lips and flexing her bonds as Shin put the bowl back on the table.
“That was good. What now?”
“Now,” He said, moving forward and touching her forehead, “You sleep.”
She went to mouth something, but it all fell apart on her tongue as she found herself falling back down into darkness.

Shin let out a breath, shaking his head as hers slumped down. The woman seemed…overly interested in him. Something he couldn’t quite afford to acknowledge, but was being struck by anyway. Still, six hours had passed, so at least he still had six hours more of her company.
“Ty Lee,” Shin intoned softly, “Look at your chart. How deep does it say you are now?”
“…Four hundred and fifty…” Came the delayed, soft answer, her face placid and free of emotion.
“Good girl. Let yourself relax more,” He encouraged, his own breathing slowing now that he was back doing his job, “Now, I want you to imagine a doorway…”

_______________________________________________________________________________

Mai sighed. Chained naked to a wall was not how she wanted to spend the day. She was embarrassed, of course. Who wouldn’t be when chained naked to a wall? But she’d gotten over the initial shock of the situation and her nonchalant appearance would not be so easily broken. It couldn’t afford to be.

Again she spent some time looking around the room she’d been put in, ignoring the cold (although unfortunately her nipples weren’t) that seemed to blow through the place…odd, given they were underground. The area was well lit by green-fired candles along the walls, and there was a table off to one side with a cloth draped over it. Other than that, it was pretty ordinary. Boring.

She resisted the urge to pull on her chains again. She’d already done that twice and they didn’t seem to be the kind to break from simple muscle-work; any more tugs and it’d give the sense that she was irritated by something. Annoyingly, they didn’t have any ‘give’ either, leaving her back against the freezing cold stone wall, something she’d been trying to ignore for the five minutes she’d been hung there.
There was a noise, and Mai jerked her head to its source as a section of earth slowly slid away, one of the Dai Li’s agents stepping through it.

The subject rolled her eyes at his entrance. Evidently she wasn’t impressed by slow and grinding things; next time he would enter with more of a bang. She also didn’t seem to be too concerned over her rather naked appearance…or at least she wasn’t letting on that she was.

The agent looked at her as if to say something….but then stopped himself and moved over to the table. There was no need to say anything for today’s session. Tomorrow he might indulge her, but for today, no speech on his part was necessary. He felt slight distaste as he approached the table with his instruments on them; someone saw fit to hide them under a cloth. Normally he would not mind, but given the person he was working with, it would have done to have her mull over the instuments before he went about using them.

Folding the material back, he revealed his particular tools of the trade, a collection of needles. Dozens of them, all of different lengths, but all the same thickness, just slimmer than a razor’s edge. He picked up one of the middle set, running his fingers along it to make sure it was as he ordered. Clean. Sterile. It just wouldn’t do to stick anything else into his subject afterall, having her infected and sickly would play havoc with her conditioning later on.

Mai frowned as the man approached her, needle in hand. She tried hard not to feel how naked she was infront of him…she supposed she still held some ridiculous idea that Zuko should be the only man to see her naked…what a joke that turned out to be. She was a prisoner, this was to be expected…even if she was so young.

The man stopped a couple of steps infront of her, allowing Mai a good look at him in the light afforded to her. He was quite old, a long face with long lines running down it, his neatly trimmed beard looking to develop a bit of grey. The needle was barely a flash of metal in his hand, it was so thin, and was several inches long. Mai was curious as to what he was going to do with it…and why he was being so quiet about it. All he did was look back at her, sternly, as if expecting a reaction from her.

She looked away apathetically. If he wanted a reaction then he’d have to work for it; simply playing the ‘scary man’ was a waste of his time and hers. He should just get it all over with.

The subject looked away, bored and unimpressed, not even a little jingle of unease or tension through her chains. That was good, he didn’t want this to be too easy for him as he so often didn’t get a chance to do work like this these days; most subjects that end up under the lake can simply move straight to the lantern sessions without preliminary softening.

The agent hid the needle up his robes and made several sharp hand gestures, the stone of the wall creeping down the lengths of the chain and enveloping her hands and feet, pulling them taught. It wouldn’t do for her to move too much during this, afterall. She might really hurt herself.

He heard a light gasp as he forced her body away from the wall and past himself, the restraints sliding as if on rails into the centre of the room, so he could get a better reach to where he would be doing the more important parts of his work; the spinal column and her neck. Summoning a little more rock, he shaped it into a halo that slipped neatly about her head, holding it steady and immovable. He wasn’t able to see the glare from his position, but he didn’t doubt that it was there. His angry little angel.

Mai couldn’t help the shiver that ran over her when he ran his warm fingertips over her back, the coldness of the wall becoming a distant memory. For the first time, Mai seriously considered the possibility that the man planned on raping her. His touches were too smooth and lingering for her tastes, running spots up the arch of her spine as if counting the vertebrae.

She didn’t like not seeing what he was doing, but she didn’t make any effort to try and turn and watch him, she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of it. Besides, the halo of cold granite around her forehead prevented much in the way of ‘turning’. She was completely at his mercy, for the time being.

Her eyes widened when he felt him part the hair at the back of her neck, the black strands overly long now that she lacked the implements to properly hold her buns in place. She gritted her teeth as a hand slid around her throat, warm, and with a supple strength behind it as the man’s thumb stroked up and down the bumps that denoted were spine met skull. He wouldn’t have gone through all this effort just to break her neck, surely.

There was a small prick, and Mai gave a quick jerk in response, fearing the worst before realising that nothing had actually happened. Nothing notable, anyway. No pain, nothing outside of the ordinary that her senses could detect…except maybe that she was more interested in what the hell he’d just done to her. Sighing inwardly, she closed her eyes and let out a breath, silently. The man hadn’t even begun what he was doing as she was already getting skittish.

He stepped back, admiring the needle sticking out of her neck. It didn’t do anything that remarkable, at least it didn’t cause any sensations or alter any perceptions, only ensure she would stay awake through all of this. Having her pass out and miss half of their session together would be a missed opportunity.

Sweeping back around infront of her, he let his gaze flick to her just long enough to observe her eyes quickly snapping back open to track him. In the end, such things would be to her detriment; if she was saw readily aware about everything he did, then she would be unduly tense when something happened and end up hurting herself more. Not that he was going to tell her that.

Stopping before the table again, he picked a series of smaller needles and moved behind her once more, trailing a finger down her spine again and eliciting another slight shiver from her. He didn’t think he’d ever worked on a subject with such white skin before. It was very exotic. Along the sides of her spine he marked out pressure points for his six needles to go into, and, slowly and carefully, he began to insert them, one at a time, using a small tissue to wipe any traces of blood that dripped out around them.

Mai was feeling odd; like her body was being warmed from the outside in, despite the chill wind and cold stone that she’d been surrounded with. She felt another prick on her back and suppressed as gasp as another spear of warmth stabbed into her, glowing out of her, infecting her tissues.

How were needles doing this, if indeed they were? Mai struggled to think of an answer as a fourth needle entered, and she found that she did gasp this time as the sensation aggressively expanded, making it feel like a hot day on Ember Island. She could already feel her skin start to sweat, just as her insides started to develop that strange ache one gets when its hot and they haven’t eaten in a while.

Pressure points? Like Ty Lee? Mai hoped that she wasn’t in a situation like this, the poor girl could hardly-

The fifth needle went in and derailed that thought entirely, sending a lance of heat straight into her head, sheering the thought from her head and replacing it with a pulsing migraine. She tried to hang her head to get rid of the sensation, but it was held firmly in place. No use. She just had to try and ride the sensations out.

Compared to the other needles, the last was surprisingly insidious, taking a good few seconds before she really felt it’s effects, the heat seeping deep into her bones, making her feel like she was running a high fever. Her stomach twisted and rebelled, her tongue like cotton in her mouth. Mai cursed inwardly; she felt weak, shaking. She was going to vomit.

He stepped back and listened to his subject for a few moments, letting the needles do their work, firing off incorrect signals to mess with her body. A thin sweat was starting to break out over her, despite the cold of the surroundings, and her breathing was no longer as measured as it was a few moments ago; now it was quick, palpitating. Silently, he moved back to the table, barely paying attention to her expression. He didn’t need to look anyway, her gaze was fixed on the floor instead of on him, her mind occupied with trying not to give him the satisfaction of seeing her throw up.

He picked the longest needle on the table and stood infront of her, pressing down the centre of her rib-cage to find the right spot to slide it in. The probing didn’t go unnoticed and the girl managed to focus enough to give him a scowl as he passed a hand between her breasts, already getting damp with sweat, and then below that, towards the bottom of the cage.

Satisfied, He placed the needle against the bone and gave a sharp jab, puncturing it and hitting the pressure point underneath. The woman attempted to say something, perhaps, but it came out as a simple ‘Gnnk’ as he forced her to take a sharp intake of breath. The original shock over, he slid the needle in to about half of its hilt, her breathing forced into a pattern that was anything but normal. He felt her stomach crunch, but it was only a dry heave; she would not be allowed the pleasure of vomiting today.

She almost told him to stop when he slid the needle into her chest, the half-formed words falling into nonsense as she reflexively inhaled at his actions. Now everything seemed so much worse to her; there wasn’t even a semblance of balance in her body, and the erratic breathing was starting to throw her temperament off kilter, exacerbating the pounding in her head and the twitching of her stomach.

Mai tried to keep her focus on him as he went back to the table, but another dry heave forced her eyes shut, a light gurgle running out of her throat from all the saliva she was making. She closed her mouth and forced herself to swallow; it wouldn’t do to drool.

By the time she had recovered herself she felt another pin-prick, this time in the back of her right arm. What was he trying to-

It felt like he tore her skin off with his bare hands, and she couldn’t help the scream that forced its way past her lips. The attack was unexpected; up until that point it had just been simple needles, not physical injury. It also didn’t help that she couldn’t even turn her head to see what he was doing.

Again he ripped another strip of her flesh off, but she was ready for it this time and what promised to be another scream was choked into a strained whine. He spent a good ten minutes at it, peeling layer after layer of flesh from her arm, deeper, shallower, long ones and short ones, all while the headaches pounded harder, the dry-heaves grew more intense. She thought to tell him stop, despite the plea likely to fall on deaf ears. She just wanted to say something, anything, but the words couldn’t find purchase on her tongue; she was either biting it, or using it to scream until he stopped.

And stop he did, finally. For some reason.

Running his hand over her arm one last time, he finally finished working with the limb. No need to torture solely one bodypart when there were so many others on this subject, afterall, they still had well over eleven hours of time left to get acquainted with one another, so he could just return to it later if he felt more attention was necessary. Listening to her screams and moans become more desperate towards the end had been quite interesting, but he didn’t want her to get used to that sort of pain just yet.

He moved back to the table to get another needle, but took his time in seeing how she was fairing with everything. Her body was shaking a little from the shock of having her ‘flesh torn off’, and was covered in a fine cold sweat from the six needles in her back, as was expected, naturally. Her eyes were squeezed closed; apparently she was trying in vain to stabilise her breathing, to get some much-needed air in her system after all the trauma he’d caused her. Satisfied, he turned to get another needle.

“…You…”

He picked up the needle and turned around, looking at her blandly. She blinked hard again, sweat and tears of pain stinging her eyes, but she at least managed to maintain eye contact. She was evidentally putting a lot of effort into this, so he thought it common courtesy to at least listen to what she had to say.

“You…you haven’t even-” She halted again, fighting another dry-heave, “-haven’t even said anything…haven’t –NN- asked me…any questions…w-why?”

He decided to answer by sticking the needle in the side of her neck.

Nothing but strained air came out when she tried to speak again. The man had paralysed her vocal chords. For some reason, this seemed even worse than all the other things else he’d done so far. How could she tell him to stop when she was going to die from what he was doing? There wasn’t a single note of protest she could voice….and not a single thing she could tell him if he wanted information from her. Or wanted her to agree to something, or look for a confession.

As he went around her back once more, she coldly realised that he wasn’t looking for any of that. He was only looking to torture her. Make her feel pain. Make her suffer…and for no other reason than that the opportunity was there for him to do so. He just wanted to see how much she could take before snapping.

Seeing him take up another needle, she found herself desperately wanting this little meeting want to come to a close. How long was he going to do this? How much time had passed since he showed up? Not all that long…but long enough for her, Mai was sure of that much. She arched as another needle slid into her back, wondering…no, FEARING what this one was going to do to her, as her sweat and tears slowly began to turn from a cold comfort to something a lot more acidic to her senses…

****

He held a cup of water to her lips, tilting her head up slightly so at least some of it would go down her throat and not be spurted back up again.

She had a wonderful expression on her face now, particularly after her last bout of sensory deprevation; he hadn’t even removed all of the pins for that just yet. He had, however, gone through a rather extensive repertoire over the past eight hours they had been together, and now thought it best to stop for a short break; the needle in her neck that stopped her from passing out was still there, but one had to take care of one’s toys, she would be as good-as-unconscious unless he got some fluids into her.

She choked again, more water sputtering out of her mouth. Almost tutting, he kept the cup to her lips and removed the needle paralysing her vocal chords. Whether it was surprise for realising she had her voice back or a natural obstruction had been removed he didn’t quite care, but the rest of the luke-warm liquid made its way down without too much trouble. Satisfied, he took the cup away and handed it back to another Dai Li agent, who left as silently as he entered with it. Twirling the vocal-chord needle between his fingers, he looked over her exhausted, tormented body, looking for the next spot to use it in. He had removed most of the needles around her spine and put them in different positions, forcing her to strain muscles that weren’t used to being used all that much. He’d spend the last couple of hours repairing any physical damage he’d done, but until then, and even then, there were plenty of other ways to go about ‘using’ his subject.

He looked back to the bucket of water the Dai Li agent had left behind and smiled. Yes, there were plenty enough ways left…he hoped the small break he afforded her had gone someway to restoring her resolve. It was no pleasure in playing with something that was broken.

Mai couldn’t see anything. Her eyes were open and shapes were moving but something was wrong; she couldn’t process the information her eyes were sending her, making her all but blind. Mai didn’t even know he was offering her water until she felt the cup touch her lips and sensed some of it dribble down her chin. The fact that he had that much power over her gave her chills…chills she’d be having a lot of ever since he’d switched some of the needles around. The room seemed even colder than before, not helped by whatever sweat was left lingering from her earlier induced ‘fever’.

Truthfully, she was feeling brittle, on edge. She’d steeled herself for the worst, but this was beyond what she would have imagined. She was only fifteen afterall, how on earth could she have known methods and things like this existed? How could she ever know how they felt like?

Another dry-heave.

She’d managed to keep her exterior intact so far, despite the screams, and she kept her anger and her thoughts to herself, but she knew that if this kept up, it couldn’t last. She was floating to the top, pressing against that glass ceiling…and just by touching it she could feel the cracks just waiting to be made.

Another needle pricked her; lower, near her pelvis.

Mai suppressed a whine, clenching her teeth together. She had her voice back, but found it to be of little comfort. She liked to think that she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of pleading for him to stop what he was doing or cussing him out, but now she wasn’t so sure that was why she was staying quiet. She was too tired to do any of that; her mental strength had been dragged out of her by the pounding headache still present at the front of her mind. If she were honest, she probably wasn’t speaking just because he either hadn’t prompted her to speak, or given her anything to say. She was almost willing to go along with anything he put to her if it just meant getting out of this hell he’d put her in. The only thing stopping her right now, the only thing stopping that glass ceiling from shattering, was knowing that if she did she’d lose her friends as well as herself.

Mai shrieked as she was doused in something that was surely far too cold to be water. The stuff it seeped into her body, stabbing at her skin like a million icicles, flowing straight through her heart like crushed glass.

The sheer agony of it was beyond anything she could have imagined; no matter what she tried she couldn’t stop herself from screaming as it trickled down her arms and legs. She wished she could snap them off to stop it. Stop all of it. Her thoughts puddled out of her eyes as tears until there was only one thing left in her head; one final strand for her to hold onto. The one thing she didn’t want to give up, even for her life.

“…Z…Zu…”

She prayed that it would be enough to keep her sane.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

There is no war in Ba Sing Se.

Azula shook her head at the statement, attempting to discard it. It irritated her just how easily a phrase could get stuck in a person’s head…particularly when said phrase is repeated for eighteen hours straight while a flashing light constantly moves across one’s vision.

Now back in her cell, Azula felt the warm glow of triumph wash over her at the victory she scored over their pathetic attempt at brainwashing. It was a simple matter of merely focusing her thoughts on something outside of the situation, or on something inside it, but not what they wanted. She was gagged, so she couldn’t talk over the man, but she spent a good deal of the time there focusing on how much she loathed him as he spoke; that seemed to do the trick.

Of course, the lantern attempted to distract her, but only an idiot would choose to follow that as a point of focus; the effort would tire out the eyes quite considerably and if one is not actively thinking during the process the words could easily slip by such a distracted mind. Distracted yet more, if the eyes became tired enough to close.

There is no war in Ba Sing Se.

Azula blinked hard, noting she needed some sleep after that ordeal. Badly. Staying awake during the lantern session had proved somewhat challenging towards the end; the chair, despite her being bound to it, was very comfy and the monotonous droning didn’t help spike any adrenaline rushes or stimulate her. Speaking of which, her technique of twisting in her bonds proved to be particularly effective, providing her that little ‘rush’ she needed to keep herself one step ahead of the game.

Unconsciously Azula did it again as she let her head loll forwards, making a small, unreadable noise before closing her eyes properly; both to rest them and to think about all she had heard through her cell window over the past day or two. Now that the first day of her ‘indoctrination’ was over and she had succeeded in developing a decent way of staving off their little mind-wiping lightshow, she had time enough to go over the data she had accumulated and think of a plan.

The guards had been talking recently, rather than keeping to their stoic silence, and even from her cell Azula could hear echoing screams that were unmistakably Mai’s roll down the corridor. This was a serious cause for concern, given that Azula hadn’t seen any Dai Li torture devices in her short tenure as their leader. Would they use them on her eventually? More to the point, why did they see fit to use them on Mai instead of her? That was puzzling. Afterall, it’s not like Mai was any more important than Azula, so why must she deviate from the norm?

Then there was what the guards said about Ty Lee. Admittedly Azula took whatever they said as an outright lie intended to further-

There is no war in Ba Sing Se

-TO FURTHER her indoctrination, but it still worried her. Again, something different that she had not forseen. It made coming up with a plan to extricate her friends a rather hard one, even for her.

She opened her eyes with a struggle, looking down at her body. She looked…malnourished. Unfit. Being held in bondage, as useful as it had proved for keeping her…‘content’, was proving detrimental to her muscles; she could feel herself weakening, slowly but surely. This was going to be a problem as she suspected that the first part of her plan would have to be enacted whilst her fire-bending was impaired by the collar they affixed-

There is no war in Ba Sing Se

Clenching her teeth she twisted hard in her bonds, letting the leather dig into her more than usual, letting herself relax as she felt just how blissful having no control was.

Wait. Blissful? Where had that come from? She may have been bound up and unable to move, but that in no way correlated to her being happy or…or ‘blissful’. That just wasn’t possible. Not for her. Her way was fear and getting things the way she wanted them, it was the ONLY way she could get the things she wanted. It had to be. Afterall, isn’t that how all monsters get the things they want? And that’s what she was. A monster.

She heard a whisper at the back of her mind, too weak to make it out amongst her current blitz of thoughts, but there was a feeling behind it that made her heart stop for a beat. It felt…sad. Or sorry for something. Sorry for her? No, that couldn’t be it, she had nothing to be sorry for, or for anyone to feel sorry FOR her. Afterall she was the princess of the-

There is no war in Ba Sing Se

-Of the dingy little cell she currently found herself in, with no means of escape other than what her own weakened muscles could provide her with or if by some miracle one of her friends managed to breakout and decided to rescue her. She wished she could move her leg so she could kick something.

“I’m just going around in circles…” She muttered to herself, hopefully too low for the guards outside to hear.

It was a grim realisation, but at least Azula could admit it to herself. Something was preventing her from moving forward with her plans of escape, and it wasn’t just her current physical circumstances. There was some…

She let out a breath strained between teeth, blue flames lighting up the dingy cell. It was one thing forcing yourself not to think, but another entirely when your forced not to think against your best efforts. She was too tired to figure out what was happening to her and too tired to think of a plan to get out. She felt she should be blaming someone for this, but couldn’t even work out who. The Dai Li were faceless, her friends were elsewhere, undergoing new, exotic forms of punishment, her brother, bless his soul, was making a fine tea-boy in their Uncle’s shop, and the Avatar was completely unaware of their predicament. That left…

There is no war in Ba Sing Se

She was going in circles again. Frustrated, she resigned herself to trying to get as much sleep as possible before they took her away for another dose of lanterns. Perhaps that was what she could focus on during the next session; a way out of this place. She needed to get out. She HAD to get out. There was still a lot of work to do, and her father NEEDED her there for when the eclipse happened. They were a team, afterall.

Weren’t they?

She shook her head, letting a small smile grace her features. She was just being stupid now. It didn’t help that her current position didn’t allow for particularly restful sleep, either. She must make a note to complain about her sleeping arrangements the next time an agent came in to feed her. At least the part where other people fed her hadn’t changed from her old life.

There is no war in Ba Sing Se

Though the fact she was beginning to consider it her old life was rather worrying.
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Lake Laogai