"Jingzhong!" the woman screamed, tears breaking free. Two Dai Li seized her at once, steel chains snapping around her wrists, unyielding despite her partial understanding of their proprietary Earthbending craft.
The Inquisitor approached the still warm body and unfastened the metal badge from Zhao Jingzhong's brocade sash, a token borne by all who once served among the city's guardians.
"A disappointing end to misplaced ambition, there was a time when I believed you might ascend far higher," he said, seemingly addressing the dead. "Cohabitation with a daofei is disgraceful. It is also dangerous. Disgrace I might tolerate. Betrayal of state secrets is a different matter." His eyes shifted to the woman, gaze hardened. "As for you, death is not yet inevitable. Your beloved has purchased you a measure of relevance."
Silencing the remaining witness here would be imprudent. Zhao Jingzhong, even in death, had proven that a former Dai Li retained a certain strategic imagination, one that might yet be of use to the state.
Almost at once, the surviving Dai Li agents moved to recover their wounded. In the same breath, recognition spread among them. The daofei woman is none other than He Tishou, a former adherent of the group known as the Five Poison Cult, one of the many unsavory legacies of Queen Hou Ting's reign. In that turbulent era, rival princes of Ba Sing Se had no doubt employed such disreputable agents in their covert struggles for the throne. Those schemes of course proved futile, for power ultimately passed to the far less capable Prince Wu with the assistance from that meddlesome state in the west.
"Inquisitor," one of the agents said. "Your wound, it festers."
Though the stark black and white face paint concealed any overt sign of discomfort, the injury was an undeniable nuisance, subtly impeding the Inquisitor's movements.
"My afflictions are inconsequential," he replied, tone devoid of pain or concern.
Nearby however, another figure grew increasingly agitated, almost suicidal. Without warning, He Tishou lashed out at the two Dai Li agents restraining her. The enforcers had not anticipated that the outlaw was a quick study, mimicking their clandestine Earthbending techniques was evidently not the only rare discipline she had mastered.
Mayumi was the first to recognize the familiar jabs and precise strikes. Clad in nothing but silken brocade, the two agents collapsed, their bodies rendered limp and unresponsive by He Tishou's unarmed martial prowess alone.
Any Dai Li still able to stand rushed to intervene. To their astonishment, the enraged woman raised the metal cuffs binding her wrists, using them to deflect the incoming earthen pellets. The impacts were forceful enough to warp the restraints, and in doing so, shatter them entirely.
"I expected no less from an experienced outlaw," the Inquisitor said, observing the display with caution. "Capture her."
The remaining agents launched their last metal chains, only for He Tishou to raise a shield of earth and drive it forward like a battering ram. The Dai Li agents reacted instantly, vaulting over the advancing wall and unleashing a furious barrage of pellets from their signature gauntlets.
"Die, scum!" a voice thundered through the courtyard.
Though a Dai Li managed to evade the moving wall hurled at him, He Tishou was already upon him, striking relentlessly at his limbs. Each blow landed with vicious precision against flesh protected by nothing more than silk. One strike slammed into his chest, nearly stifling his breathing.
"What—?"
The agents had not anticipated such agility. It was a stark reminder that veterans of secret societies and outlaw sects often made far deadlier opponents than regular ruffians or underground zealots who relied solely on blind faith and numbers.
A thin earthen spike then erupted from the ground, impaling another Dai Li through the thigh. He Tishou simultaneously engaged the remaining agents, driving sharp blows into exposed pressure points with ruthless efficiency.
The Inquisitor narrowed his eyes, not in disappointment, but in contempt. This is the inevitable consequence of seditionists learning to fight as the Dai Li did. Another reminder of why their techniques must remain guarded, reserved only for those who serve the state.
"Inquisitor, we apologize for our—"
Still clutching his earlier wound, the painted figure raised his free hand, silencing the injured agent on the ground with a rare gesture of understanding. He Tishou did not hesitate. She soon advanced and attacked the weakened man without mercy.
Seizing one of the paralyzed agent's earthen gauntlets, the former outlaw sent a lethal volley of pellets toward the Inquisitor, who could only manipulate the earth with one hand while using the other to keep himself from bleeding out.
"To learn our techniques is to court execution," the enforcer said calmly under fire. "Yet your persistence toys with the promise of amnesty."
Judging by the seditionist's precise Earthbending, she had grasped the most rudimentary form of the Dai Li's closely guarded art. No natural Earthbender could wield those intricately crafted gauntlets without instruction. Where common Earthbenders conjured crude masses of stone to encase their fists for brute force alone, the Dai Li employed a subtler, far more exacting style that is less powerful in raw impact yet devastating in control.
One pellet ricocheted off the Inquisitor's helmet. The slightly sloped brim spared his life by mere chance. The assault did not relent. He Tishou pressed in, exploiting the advantage by striking limbs and joints until a sudden palm strike finally forced her back.
Even then, the Inquisitor was far from unscathed. His limbs burned with numbness, and pain flared along his waist. In the chaos, He Tishou had managed to draw his saber and cut him with it.
Having narrowly escaped death, the only response the Inquisitor offered was a long, venomous glare at the audacious outlaw who had dared to corrupt a servant of the state and learning what was forbidden.
"Zhao Jingzhong failed to keep his mouth shut," the Inquisitor said, betraying neither pain nor fatigue. "Perhaps you will prove more compliant. If not, we possess other means of ensuring you do not repeat what you have learned."
"I doubt you'll live long enough to find out," the woman snarled, sinking once more into an Earthbending stance instantly recognizable to any Dai Li agent. "Unlike you, who never endured the chaos that followed the queen's demise, we survived by doing whatever it took. Twenty years ago, this city devoured the weak. So, tell me, what right do you have to preach law and order to me?"
The Dai Li remained unflinching, blood slowly seeping between his fingers.
"My qualification lies in the simple fact that my actions do not endanger the common citizen," he replied without hesitation. "You lived through an era ruled by incompetence of sovereigns and Avatar alike. Yet it is unjust to assume that my suppression of sedition and treason lacks merit. I offer no leniency to those who twist the law for selfish ends, no matter how fervently they cloak their crimes in righteousness. Nevertheless, anyone who survives long in Ba Sing Se acquires talents far exceeding those of a roadside brigand throughout the realm."
"You underestimate me," He Tishou hissed. "Earthbending alone did not carry me this far." She leveled the seized saber at the wounded Dai Li, displaying another craft honed in the gutters and shadows of the criminal underworld. "On this day next year will mark your first death anniversary!"
The woman screamed the vow and charged at the same man who had slain the one she loved.
Bleeding freely now, the Inquisitor evaded, narrowly avoiding the savage arcs of his own stolen blade. The earth refused his command, and the thin silk of his brocade offered no protection against chi-blocking or steel. Even evasiveness could not save him as the saber struck without resistance.
With nothing but silk between flesh and steel, the Inquisitor was reduced to deflecting strikes by kicking the blade aside with his boots. To the horror of the other wounded Dai Li agents sprawled across the courtyard, the Inquisitor faltered slightly. The numbing poison of Chi-blocking gnawed at even a man as cold and disciplined as he.
"Go to the underworld, Dai Li scoundrel!"
He Tishou leapt, blade raised for the killing stroke.
Out of options, the Inquisitor raised his bare hands to intercept the descending slash. Like most benders, unarmed combat was neither his main discipline nor his strength.
Then, steel rang against steel. A dao swept in from the side, neatly parrying the fatal blow.