Some Person

"Zhuge Liang, surname Zhuge, name Liang"

(ATLA 2.18 x LOK 3.03)

It's rather interesting how Long Feng and the Dai Li seem to forget they can brainwash people despite it being a major plotpoint previously and seemingly not requiring much time or equipment to do. It's also interesting how Azula, seemingly lacking a lot of intelligence on the city, never seems to account for it in her plan being used against her in some way, nor is it. Which is very "lucky" for her. Plus, the fact the Fire Nation after the conquest are never shown to be interested in using what would be a CIA wet dream is also just extra weird.

The Dai Li knew they were done for. The Gaang had swooped in and overthrown their leader, it put the entire city in a state of mild disorder. But that wasn’t the worst of it. What was the true underlying worry was Sozins comet. Aang stopped the drill. The city stopped Iroh’s siege. The Fire Nation wants to beat the Earth Kingdom, remove the main enemy and finally have some semblance of peace because war is expensive and the Earth Kingdom doesn’t give up. Ba Sing Se is rich, wealthy, many laborers they could use, so their first choice is not to burn it all down. But if all their attempts to take it fail, more harsher methods have to be used.

The Council of Five know this. The Dai Li know this. The Fire Nation will use the comet to bring them on their knees.

So what do you do? Trust a 12 year old who just defrosted from the ice? A child? A country can’t just put the fate of their citizens, and Ba Sing Se has a large population, in the mere hands of a child. No matter if he’s the Avatar or not. But a plan? They have none.

Right up until the Kyoshi Warriors that arrive, don’t look quite right. The Dai Li probably already knew something was up and had long overheard Azula’s plan. They played into her hands. Let her think they overheard at the palace steps, let her think they were walking into her trap, let her think the Dai Li would do exactly as she wanted. They gave her the city. Free of charge. They are prepared to sacrifice anything they need to.

Ally with the Fire Nation for as long as nessesary so they do not burn the city down with Sozin’s Comet, and then light up the fire to retake it once the most dangerous time has passed, divert the army’s attention away from the city, keep it safe and sound. And to make Azula believe so, to make the Fire Nation believe they have surrendered themselves and sided with their conquerors, they pretended to become fully loyal. Offer up Long Feng, offer up the city, keep Azula safe and sound, and they stood and watched as the avatar was struck down.

The Dai Li are horrid people, that’s for sure. They’ve done some messed up things, justified it with the fact it keeps ‘order’ and ‘stability’. They’re totalitarian, authoritarian, scumbags. But all they’ve done, was to keep the city afloat. And they have always been willing to do whatever was needed to accomplish that.

And their plan would not have worked if azula had noticed Ty Lee and Mai were off. It would not have worked if the Fire Nation court had noticed something wrong about them. They would not have been trusted. Rumors can be written off. Joo Dees can be explained away as being overly dedicated to their role, just as Dai Li are, all sharing the same outward behaviors. But if the Fire Nation knew what the Dai Li were capable of, the Fire Nation would force them to use it upon the FN’s enemies. Or force them to teach it to Fire Nation officials. And not only would that have made the Fire Nation even shittier, the Dai Li wouldn’t have been able to refuse it or they’d look disloyal and suspicious.

these surviving photographs are still CRAZY VALUABLE to this day for the rest of the volcanologist community, since actual recordings of an in-process eruption are so dang rare

on-site documentation of any major disaster is gonna be VITALLY IMPORTANT to the people who are tryna figure out how to prevent that shit