A/N: Entry for Pro-Bending Competition Round 4
Prompts Used: Mystery(Genre); grief(Emotion/word used); "you're the last person I would have expected"(dialogue); "failure is a word unknown to me"(quote/dialogue)
Word Count: 1,903 excluding AN
There he was, lying in his office table. Papers were scattered all over the place. The door was broken down, wood chipped off its sides. His wife was in the arms of a relative, sobbing in grief. The police went in to check on the crime scene. President Raiko was murdered and the culprit left a single obvious trace to what his next actions are. This was the first time a member of the high council was murdered.
"Officer Mako, you're quite the early one" an investigator arrived late
"Actually, you two are just late" he responded whilst standing
He handed the trace that the culprit left. It was a piece of paper containing three letters:
LIN
"Please, investigate with this further" he ordered the lower ranking investigator "For now, we'll check up on Chief Lin and have officers watching over her"
The man immediately sat down and took down notes about the scene.
Meanwhile, Mako and several officers headed straight to Lin's residence. Mako assigned ten scouting officers around her home and three elite ranking officers by her side.
"Mako!" An enraged Lin came storming out the house "I already told you that I won't be needing them!"
The firebender was startled by the loud voice "B-but, Chief...it's j-just a precaution"
"Precaution my ass" She grabbed Mako's collar "Have them off my lawn in a few minutes or else, you're fired!"
Mako immediately ordered the officers out the house. Mako apologized and headed off.
"Finally" Lin sighed "Some alone time with you"
Kya was reading a book on their bed when Lin came in.
"You gotta stay beside me more often" she held on Lin's hand
"Are you sure we're going to be safe?" Kya asked a worried Lin
The Chief of Police gave her a fake smile "Yeah, I'll get on with the case early in the morning"
Kya returned a hug "Alright, get some sleep, will ya?" she threw a pillow over the other woman
People we're running around the office, like every other day. Lin walked in with her usual angry face but this time, it felt more intense. Mako unexpectedly sent a car over Lin's house to fetch her. The Chief was clearly annoyed but let it pass since it was a free ride to the office.
"Alright, give me some details about this" Lin crossed her arms in front of the head of the investigation team
"Uhh…Good day Chief" The man gulped "we have received info from the autopsy of President Raiko's body"
The man handed her a few documents "They found out that he did not just die from electrocution, but-"
"-Was murdered" Lin continued the sentence "Here's what I want you to do, get me the details of all citizens who are capable of lighting generation"
The man searched through hundreds of steel cabinets. Paperwork flew all over the place and no one bothered to pick it up. Finally, he held on to a single book that had all the names of benders and non-benders in the city. He searched for the list of lightning benders and to his surprise, only four of them existed.
The electric facility that Mako used to work in, collapsed, resulting to the deaths of almost all the lighting benders.
Only Mako and two more people survived. The man headed straight towards Lin's office.
"Chief!" he was catching his breath "There are only four of them left!"
Lin gave a sly grin "Well, that makes it easier to find our unlucky man. Who's the three?"
"The first one is" he squinted his eyes on the piece of paper he had "Rin, a male, thirty-five years old, has a family, and works at Cabbage Corp but, he's got no legs and works in a wheelchair"
"Next is Saki, an old woman, turning seventy-eight this month, widowed and retired, lives in her grandson's house"
"Ex-Firelord Zuko is also on the list"
"Lastly, our very own, Mako" he glanced at the officer working at his desk
The Chief pondered over the details "Dump the three and I'll talk to Mako. Good job, officer"
"I told you already" he was in cuffs, in the middle of a room "I was inside my apartment, eating dinner and talking with friends!"
Lin wasn't one to believe stories like this. She gritted her teeth and slammed the metal desk.
"C'mon, Mako!" she yelled and tears building up in her eyes "Please, just tell us what happened."
The firebender was shocked to see that the Chief of Police can't contain her emotions.
"I hate to see you like this" she sighed "You were my best officer and I would've picked you as the next Chief"
Mako was still in shock and couldn't talk "Just…just tell us what happened" Lin brushed her hair roughly
"I swear Lin, the gang and I were having a party at my place" he stared at the Chief "You know I can't do shit like this!"
The Chief walked out of the room "I'll have you detained for quite a while, just until I get to the bottom of this. Failure is a word unknown to me"
As the night settled, Lin walked back home. A cigarette hung from her mouth as she dragged her feet and the clanking of her metal armor sounded through the street. She heard footsteps behind her. Before she could've reacted, a hard kick landed on her back.
Lin stumbled on the floor and the attacker ran towards her with what looks like an equalist shock glove. As the glove neared her face, she dodged it and threw the attacker on a dumpster.
The attacker dusted off the dirt on the glove and started it up again. Luckily, Lin had her metal wires on. She wrapped the attacker with the cable. The attacker saw the cable connected to Lin's armor and took the chance to send electricity through the metal wire.
The Chief got electrocuted and passed out on the floor. The attacker didn't realize that Lin was still alive and took off in an instant. After a few minutes, Lin stood up and limped towards her home.
"Kya!" she yelled in front of the door
The waterbender gasped as a half-awake Chief stumbled on the floor. She hurriedly helped Lin on the couch and treated her wounds.
"What happened to you?!" she was trembling while placing bandages around Lin's body
Lin grabbed her hand "Don't worry about me. Thanks to this, I got new info about our suspect"
The Chief noticed a scratch on Kya's lip "What happened to this?" she held on the waterbender's jaw
"It's nothing, I slipped on the floor earlier" she giggled and pointed at the mess in the kitchen
Lin chuckled "As a thanks, I'll clean it up after this"
"And I'll clean you up-" Kya smirked "-Chief"
The Chief woke up earlier than expected and rushed to the office. She told the officers to release Mako and have him meet her in her office.
"Mako, I apologize for having you detained there" she scratched her nape
"Don't worry Chief" He felt the bruises on his wrists "But I gotta say, those were some tight cuffs"
Lin groaned "Okay, here's the deal" she grabbed a piece of paper "How many people in Republic City is in possession of a shock glove?"
Mako held his chin "Well, the other equalist spies that we haven't caught would sum up to fifteen"
"Are there any more?" She raised a brow
Mako pondered for a bit and all of a sudden he froze "Asami"
Lin nodded "Contact her and tell her we need a few minutes to ask some questions"
"Lin!"
The whole office froze in fear. The doors slammed open and a woman stood in the entrance. She wore a blue sleeveless top and her figure was quite muscular. Beside her was a professional looking lady. A pair of glasses hung from the bridge of her nose and her hair was ponytailed to a bun.
"Ahh, the Satos are here" Lin crossed her arms
Korra ran down the hall and straight into Lin's face "What's the meaning of this?!"
Lin was tilting backwards, trying to keep a short distance from the Avatar "Calm down, Avatar. We just need a few questions from her"
"Don't even-" A pale hand grabbed Korra's shoulder
"C'mon, Kor" Asami calmed the other woman "Just get back home and I'll meet you there, I'll make it quick"
Korra groaned and walked out to the exit. Lin nudged Asami to step inside her office.
"Was she really that hotheaded?" Lin sat down
Asami sighed "She isn't. Something about your call earlier made her boil up"
"Sorry about that" She paused "Anyways, did you bring it?"
"Yes" Asami took out her shock glove "what do you need it for?"
Lin examined it "Yeah, this looks exactly like it"
"What do you mean?" The CEO was starting to tense up
"Ms. Sato" Lin wrapped the metal cable around her wrists "You're under arrest, we'll need a few answers from you"
"What?!" Asami was being dragged inside the questioning room, the same room Mako was just in
"Where were you at nine in the evening last Tuesday?" Lin slammed her palms on the metal table
"I w-was in o-our house!" She was completely frightened and backing away from the Chief
"Wrong answer" Lin walked out "I'll see you tomorrow, the night's getting darker and I gotta get home"
"Wait! Lin! It wasn-" the door slammed right in front of her
A feeling of deja vu came across Lin's mind. She carefully walked along the alley, trying to watch every direction.
"Don't be so paranoid, Lin!" She whispered to herself "Asami's already inside! No one will be here"
Then all of a sudden, the same figure attacked her. It had water tentacles and was lashing them at the Chief.
"You're a bender?!" Lin dodged the swinging tentacle "Show yourself! I wanna see who I fight"
The figure stopped and dropped one water tentacle. Its right arm showed a shock glove. It immediately ran towards Lin and threw her several punches. Lin wasn't wearing any armor and no metal cables were near. She just threw slabs of rock on the attacker.
The glove landed perfectly on Lin's spine and it threw her down to the ground. The Chief was screaming and her body was uncontrollably moving. The attacker moved away from the shadows and the moonlight shun on its face.
"How you feeling" a small smile came from its mouth "Chief?"
Lin couldn't believe what she saw. Her eyes were tearing up and she couldn't move her body.
"Why?!" she sobbed "You were the last person I would have expected!"
"Why?" it walked around her "My father didn't see the things I could've done, it was all blabbering about his perfect son yet I stood there trying my best to surpass my brother"
"Now" the attacker stood up "Here I am! A single army that will take out the leaders of the Republic"
Lin wanted to speak but her sobs held back her words. The figure spun around and was about to leave when Lin suddenly spoke.
"I didn't expect you to turn out…like this" she closed her eyes "I love you, Kya"
"Sweet dreams, Chief" Kya's back was turned towards Lin so that she wouldn't see the tears that fell on her cheeks.