Avatar:Rescue of Suyin Wen
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"I need to save my friend Susu. I have to take her with me out of the palace too. It's the reason why I'm here. [...]"
"That's more complicated! [The Joo Dees]'re a risk! You don't know when they might be activated by the Dai Li. She's too dangerous to be out in public and too valuable for [the Dai Li] to lose."
"I can't leave the palace without her. It's not negotiable."
— Jin and Jan about Suyin "Susu" Wen.[1]
Template:Battle infoboxIn summer 100 AG, Jin and Xuan organized the rescue of Suyin Wen, a friend of Jin, from the Fire Nation-occupied Earth Kingdom Royal Palace in Ba Sing Se. Suyin had been brainwashed by the Dai Li into becoming a "Joo Dee" and served as a Supreme Bureaucratic Administrator in the pro-Fire Nation puppet regime after the Fire Nation conquest of Ba Sing Se.
Though Suyin and other Supreme Bureaucratic Administrators were heavily guarded, Jin and Xuan infiltrated the palace and sought to exploit a weakening of the firebending guards on the Day of Black Sun. They were ambushed by a Dai Li contingent and thrown into the palace's prison. However, the two rebels managed to contact Suyin from prison, gradually breaking her brainwashing. After a few days, the Silver Fangs revolutionary network assisted Jin and Xuan in escaping from their cell, whereupon they completed their rescue mission and fled with Suyin from the palace.
Background
See also: Conspiracy of Ba Sing Se, Fire Nation conquest of Ba Sing Se
After the 51st Earth King's death during the Hundred Year War, Grand Secretariat Long Feng used the Dai Li secret police to establish a covert dictatorship. With the acquiescence of parts of the government, he set up the Conspiracy of Ba Sing Se to silence opposition and tightly control the Earth Kingdom capital.[2][3]
The Dai Li systematically used brainwashing to create the "Cultural Ambassadors" (colloquially known as "Joo Dees") who acted as the Dai Li's public faces and informants.[4][5][6] Some Cultural Ambassadors were covertly recruited from Lower Ring women and girls who were promised that their families' debts would be paid off in return for a servitude job, though the recruits were generally lied to about the job's true circumstances. One of those recruited through this system was Suyin "Susu" Wen, the best friend of Jin, a Lower Ring resident and refugee.[5][7] Wanting to discover her friend's whereabouts and help her, Jin joined a revolutionary network known as the "Silver Fangs". With the help of her comrades Smellerbee and Longshot, Jin ultimately discovered Suyin's fate.[8]
As a result of the Fire Nation conquest of Ba Sing Se, Jin's team lost contact with the rest of the Silver Fangs, believing that the revolutionary network had disbanded to protect its members from persecution.[5][9][10] Several ranking Silver Fangs members such as Xuan's mother, Doctor Jan, were assumed to be under Dai Li custody. In truth, the Silver Fangs leadership had covertly continued its operations with the aid of Dai Li dissident agents under Sumi.[1][11] Ignorant of this, Jin's team organized an attempted rescue of Suyin from the Dai Li's Lake Laogai base.[4][5] There, the group learnt that Suyin and other Joo Dees had been relocated to the Earth Kingdom Royal Palace to assume leadership positions in the new pro-Fire Nation puppet regime.[5] The Joo Dees assumed the role of the "Supreme Bureaucratic Administrator" -posing as a single individual- and were tightly protected by both the Dai Li as well as the Fire Army, so they could serve as the public faces of collaborationist efforts.[4][5][12]
Prelude
Still committed to saving her friend, Jin worked out a plan to save Suyin from the Earth Kingdom Royal Palace. She and her comrades had learnt from Sung, a prisoner at Lake Laogai, that the upcoming Day of Black Sun would render firebenders powerless. The team thus decided that Jin and Xuan would disguise themselves as servants and Dai Li agents to infiltrate the palace, scouting Suyin's location and striking on the Day of Black Sun. The other team members, Smellerbee and Longshot, were unable to master the typical mannerisms of Upper Ring servants, meaning that they could not disguise themselves and thus had to stay behind. Smellerbee and Longshot instead focused on securing supplies for the mission, while Jin and Xuan trained their own earthbending and acting.[5]
Contacting a still-free Silver Fangs leader, Patron Wu, Xuan secured replicas of Dai Li tokens for their disguises. He also procured a palace map from a Middle Ring worker who had previously worked at an expansion of the complex.[5] Using the Silver Fangs' old criminal contacts and bribery, Jin and Xuan secured jobs as laundry worker and kitchen staff respectively.[5][12] They agreed that Smellerbee and Longshot would regularly watch the palace gardens, waiting for a signal to help the infiltrators eventually escape on the Day of Black Sun.[12]
Mission
Infiltration and first attempt
Pretending to be regular servants, Jin and Xuan started to work at the palace's workers' quarters. Jin used her position to steal a form-fitting Dai Li uniform for herself,[12] whereas Xuan had already captured a set during the Lake Laogai mission[4][13] and used it to operate as Dai Li member as well as scout into the palace's west wing where the agents were housed. After Jin had managed to obtain a servant token which allowed her to make deliveries to the west wing, the two rebels regularly met to coordinate their actions. After other servants began noticing them, Jin and Xuan pretended to be secret lovers to keep up their disguises.[12]
After one week, Xuan had located the Supreme Bureaucratic Administrators' rooms on the west wing's third floor and learnt that the Joo Dees were mainly guarded by Fire Army soldiers. In order to locate Suyin, however, they needed more information. Jin thus arranged to take on the duty of delivering laundry to the Administrators' quarters from the other servants, pretending that she was doing so to meet her "boyfriend" more often. She was able to discover the room where Suyin slept, relaying the information to Xuan.[12]
Afterward, the two worked out a detailed plan for their rescue attempt and waited for the Day of Black Sun. As weeks passed, they heard from other servants that a large number of Dai Li agents had been sent to the Fire Islands for "a secret mission", seemingly weakening the palace's security.[14]
On the Day of Black Sun, Jin and Xuan waited until after the Administrators had retired to their quarters after the midday meal. The two met up in the west wing, Xuan already in his Dai Li disguise and Jin as laundry worker. Afterward, the latter changed into a Dai Li uniform and the two armed themselves with Dai Li rock beads. Together, Jin and Xuan snuck into the Administrators' rooms, either moving around Fire Army soldiers who were inattentive due to watching the solar eclipse on the open-air walkways or silently incapacitating them. When one patrol noticed them, they easily overwhelmed them as the guards were unable to firebend.[14]
Upon entering the Administrators' quarters, Jin began to check the beds and eventually discovered Suyin asleep. Before the rebels could take her away, however, another Joo Dee saw them and raised the alarm, prompting an ambush of Dai Li agents who emerged from several hiding places in the room.[14][nb 1] Jin and Xuan attempted to fight back but were quickly overpowered by the more skilled and more numerous agents; Xuan was lightly wounded in the short clash.[14][16]
Imprisonment
After their capture, Jin and Xuan were interrogated by Heng, the leader of the ambush party and a Dai Li inspector. Believing them to be rebel assassins who had intended to kill the Joo Dees, Heng offered them leniency in return for information on their employers. When Jin declared that they had tried to save Suyin, Heng assumed this to be a lie and sent them to the palace dungeons for further questioning and judgement.[16]
Put into a metal cell which was protected against earthbending, Jin and Xuan bonded and waited, largely left alone with the exception of the rare appearance of a guard on the outside.[16][17] After an extended period of time, the two were surprised when they were visited by Suyin. The latter had heard Jin's words during the failed rescue attempt, and secretly sought out their cell out of curiosity despite her brainwashing. Using what she had learnt from Smellerbee and Longshot about brainwashing, Jin used the opportunity to create some cracks in her friend's brainwashing through emotional stories of their past and her family. The rebel urged Suyin to bring roast duck and egg tart to their cell on her next visit, as these had been her favorite dishes in her old life.[17]
Though not convinced by Jin's words, enough doubts had been sown that Suyin did return with the food after four or five days.[17][18] As they ate together and Jin continued share personal memories, Suyin's brainwashing actually started to break down, whereupon she began to share her own experiences with them.[18] From then on, Suyin would repeatedly visit their cell, but she had no means to help them break out.[11]
After some time, Jin and Xuan were taken from their cell by guards and brought into the palace's guest wing for judgement. To their shock, their judge was none other than Sumi, who revealed that she led a dissident faction within the Dai Li which opposed the Fire Nation. Sumi also revealed that Jan was with her and safe, much to Xuan's relief. The two Silver Fangs leaders explained that the revolutionary network had only pretended to be dissolved and was actually preparing a mass uprising in Ba Sing Se; they offered to arrange for the escape of Jin and Xuan, requesting that they rejoin the rebel network. The two young rebels agreed to help Sumi and Jan, but Jin also insisted that she would again try to rescue Suyin; though the older revolutionaries deemed this neither practical nor sensible, Jin refused to be swayed by their arguments.[1][11]
Second attempt and escape
After the meeting with the Silver Fangs leaders, Jin and Xuan were returned to their cell, waiting for the promised breakout. They continued to share information with Suyin during the latter's visits, informing her of the escape plan. After a few days, a Silver Fangs-linked servant brought them Dai Li uniforms and unlocked their cell during the night,[1][19] telling them of an escape route and that they would have to meet up with a guide. This guide was supposed to escort an entire group of dissidents out of the palace, however, and would not wait beyond a certain time schedule. Afterward, the servant bid them good luck.[19]
Based on Xuan's memory of the palace map and Suyin's information, the two young rebels used their disguises to return to the Administrators' quarters. They successfully snuck past Dai Li and Fire Army patrols, eventually surprising and overpowering the firebenders guarding the entrance to the room where Suyin was held. Once inside, however, the two discovered that Jin's friend was gagged and held hostage by another Joo Dee. This Joo Dee wished to remain a Supreme Bureaucratic Administrator, fearing that Suyin's defection would poorly reflect on all Joo Dees and thus endanger her own position as a figurehead. Realizing that they could not reason with her, Jin and Xuan used their earthbending to knock out the Joo Dee, saving Suyin.[19]
Jin, Xuan, and Suyin hurried to the agreed meeting point, discovering that the guide had already left. However, Jin managed to locate a hidden route using her earthbending, deducing that this was the pathway through which the guide was supposed to lead his group. The route turned out to be an entire tunnel network, but the trio figured out that Pai Sho symbols were marking the correct way to freedom. In this way, they were able to navigate the pathways, eventually exiting at an Upper Ring monorail station.[20]
Aftermath
Using the monorail, Jin, Xuan, and Suyin safely made it to the Lower Ring where they were joyously received by Smellerbee, Longshot, and the Wen family.[20] Having reconnected with the Silver Fangs, Jin and Xuan subsequently helped to prepare and coordinate the planned revolution, using the Wen Bakery as a base.[21]
Just as the other Joo Dee had feared, the rescue of Suyin Wen indeed led to a loss in confidence in the Supreme Bureaucratic Administrators. The puppet regime thus prepared for their replacement with a voluntary collaborator, though this move was never carried out before the liberation of Ba Sing Se.[21]
Appearances
Avatar Legends novels
City of Echoes
Notes
- ↑ Jin and Xuan later speculated that this ambush had been the result of a leak by the Silver Fangs, possibly to stop the two from unwise actions and to restore contact with them for the upcoming liberation. This was neither confirmed nor denied by Silver Fangs leaders Sumi and Jan.[11] Heng might also have learned about the upcoming Day of Black Sun due to the information previously relayed by Team Avatar to the Earth Kingdom government.[15]
References
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