These are the adventures of Division42, a team of nerds who role play as if they are Republic City's answer for anything it's seedy underworld can throw. They use a free system called Fate Accelerated, which is comparable to D&D except all its materials are free, because in addition to being big damn heroes they are all broke-ass cheapskates. Their Dungeon Master (DM) has too much time on her hands and wrote up the session recaps as if it were traditional fan fiction. The background music played during the game is noted in case the reader wants listen to it while they read. These crazy ass shenanigans happen both in the GM's living room and in the Republic City police force shortly after the events of Legend of Korra, Season 1. So if you haven't seen Season 1 there's going to be a lot of spoilers… go away.
Session 1: Victim & Villain
Cue Jazz music on Pandora Radio for effect
It had been a few days since their last adventure capturing the sex slavers when Beifong called the mixed-bender team of Division 42 to her office. Their southern water bender, Kairos, had the day off and their nonbending, former equalist partner, Daeyoon Tao had recued herself from service for the time being to go take care of a sick family member in the countryside of The Earth Kingdom. Old man Lee Wong had been on the force since Chief Toph's reign. He'd known Chief Lin Beifong when she was a teenager so he wasn't nearly as intimidated of her as the rest of his team. So it was Lee Wong that asked Chief Beifong if anything further had been found out about the supposed corrupt cop in their ranks. When they'd captured the sex-slaving ringleader, Houza only a few days ago, she'd been yapping her head off about how she'd already paid her police protection money. Beifong waved Lee Wong's question away, her eyes fixed on the report in her hands.
"I've got a team doing an internal affairs investigation on it. Just be sure not to mention what Houza said to any of the other police officers or you'll alert the rat—if there even is one. It's quite possible Houza just wanted to unsettle you." Then she put down her report and turned her steely eyes on Lee Wong and Senna. "I want you to handle a new case. Lee, you're our most experienced detective, and Senna you've proven yourself to be a prodigy with one of the highest arrest rates in the force." Senna stood up a little straighter and tried not to look too pleased. "I need you both on this case, and it'll be a good chance for you to show the new recruits the basics of in-field detective work. They've already proven themselves in combat but they're still untried at a lot of basic field work. I'm counting on you two to be in charge, and I'll know who to blame if anything goes wrong." Her tone did not change but Senna's smugness quickly went down her throat like old soup. Lee Wong just kept smiling, his hands resting gently on his cane, his hunched back making look even more like somebody's grandpa. Jinsu, ever the tallest one, was standing behind him and could even hear the old man humming faintly to himself. He wondered if his superior was even listening to the police chief.
Beifong continued as if she hadn't noticed "The problem is this: I am worried that we might have a serial killer on the loose, and, worse yet, we think he might already have his next victim, one of our own: Jin Ro. A person who I believe you, Jinsu, and Senna, are familiar with.
"I knew him too," piped up Lee Wong, catching Jinsu off guard. Lee Wong nodded slowly and leaned on his cane with both hands. "I taught the hand-to-hand combat course at the police academy when he was there. He was terrible at it."
"I saw him around the police academy and he seemed a nice polite sort of guy," said Senna. She was the only one standing at attention but Beifong didn't seem to notice. Maybe, Senna thought, she was too distracted by how shabby Hachikura's uniform was. She left her front jacket unbuttoned, her belt loose and lopsided around her hips and she was covered in soot stains, consequence of a bad attempt at firebending her tea that morning. But the police chief was looking at Jinsu now.
"I didn't really know him that well," said Jinsu. The tall earthbender chewed his lower lip and chanced a glance at Beifong as if her military stare made him nervous. The formalities of the police station still seemed foreign to him. Back at Cabbage Corp he'd been in charge of several branches but he'd never insisted on the sort of protocol Senna was always expounding on.
Beifong nodded, "Well, he had to drop out of the force shortly after joining. He was diagnosed with a terminal tumor in his abdomen. The healers said there was nothing they could do and he'. He's been missing for a few hours now and he fits the victim profile this killer goes after. I want you to start by questioning the forensic doctor at Iroh City Hospital. His name is Morin and he'll fill you in on the specifics of the case."
Outside the station sat their older model police Sato-mobile. "Which of you can drive?" Senna asked.
Hachikura glanced down the street and bit her lip, no doubt remembering the car chase from a few days ago. She'd taken out the suspect's car almost single-handedly but when it had crashed into their car they'd woken up hanging from the ceiling butt-naked in the kidnapper's basement. Kairos has water-bent them some conveniently-concealing clouds but Hachi still seemed shaken up by the incident.
"You used to work at Sato Industries, Hachi; I bet you know how to drive." Senna tossed her the keys.
"Yeah, but I'd rather keep my hands free in case we run into trouble." She said and tossed the keys back to her. Jinsu and Lee Wong immediately put their fingers to their noses.
"Not it!" they said, as seriously as they could with their fingers squashing their faces. Senna rolled her eyes and got in the driver's seat. When the others piled in she heard a sudden piercing "MEOW." Her head whipped around to the back where Lee Wong was furiously trying to stuff the head of a stray cat back down his coat. Apparently the hump on his back wasn't real.
"Get that cat out of the car!"
"But he's hungry," said Lee Wong scratching the stray behind the ears.
"He'll get cat hair all over the seats and then I'll have to be the one to pick it up!"
After the cat had been deposited back on the street, with a dish of milk and canned fish purchased at the corner market, Senna put the pedal to the gas.
When they got to the morgue a tall, green eyed, sallow skinned man greeted them with a low monotoned, "Are you here about the bodies?" drawing his vowels out like they were dirty underpants.
"Hey Morin!" said Lee Wong grinned. "How's the neice?"
"Oh she's allright. She's second place in her chess tournament."
"Well my grandkids…." And then Lee Wong proceed into a long boring account of what all his 15 grandkids were up too until the GM told him to shut up.
"Well," said Lee Wong after shrugging off the insult. "Have you gotten out much lately."
"Once this week, but that was a mistake. My 'friends—" he drew out the word like it was a bad smell— " insisted that go out and"—he shuddered—"Socialize."
Senna shook her head. "Nothing good ever happens when you do that." Morin turned his wide lampgreen eyes on her, paused for a moment, and said, "Indeed. That's what I told them but they were all like, 'Nooo Moorin, you MUST come do the conga!"
Senna shook her head again. "Oh don't do the conga. That's never a good idea."
Morin stared at her a second longer and then said, in a softer voice, "Ms. Senna, are you perhaps, single?"
Senna smiled, "Why, yes, in fact I am."
Hachikura gave a dry cough. "Um, can we get back to work here please? You two can flirt later- preferably when nobody is here to be psychologically scarred by it."
"Yes, we're here about the possible serial killer," said Senna.
"Ahhh, yes, I was the one who notified the police of a possible serial killer. It took me a while to realize that it might in fact be one because of the strange way in which the victim profiles are connected. There have been five deaths so far that I've been able to ascertain, and they all were found shortly after the Full Moon, which is not so strange. There is always the occasional blood bending related homicide come moon tide so at first I thought it nothing that they all had died from blood bending related injuries. That sort of thing is really the bread and butter of my job"
"How can you tell they died from blood bending?" Morin smiled at Senna as if she had asked him his favorite question.
"A few of them only died from aneurisms—those are the hardest to track but they had other wounds, where the skin was torn in a manner that suggested that the pressure came from within the body and not without. Some of them have weird injuries, as if the blood in their veins decided to pop out at random points in their body. Others had blood clots all up and down their legs so they must have been in great pain before death. One of the more—" he stopped as if savoring the moment— "picturesque bodies had half his face blown off from blood pressure alone. When I discovered what connected the victims it made their manner of death all the more puzzling."
"And what connected the victims?" asked Hachikura.
"All of them had mortal illness or injuries but they didn't die from them. All were missing a few hours before their bodies were found. They were already going to die and yet they were killed in such brutal and painful ways. It is… a puzzle."
"Why would you kill someone who was already going to die?" murmured Jinsu.
"And in a way that causes such pain?" said Senna.
"Perhaps we're dealing with a euthanasia practitioner," suggested Lee Wong.
"The bodies showed up in the old south firebender district. I can give you the address of the newest victim's family."
"I think we should go to the Old South Firebender district and look around for clues first." Lee Wong leaned on his cane with both hands and looked at Senna for her input. Hachikura and Jinsu glanced awkwardly at each other and waited for their more experienced partners to make the decision. Senna was nodding thoughtfully.
"Yeah, maybe we can check out the place that the last body was found." They headed back out and Senna slipped her phone number to Dr. Morin before they left while the rest of her team tried to convince themselves they hadn't just seen that.
here the DM turned off the Pandora jazz channel and switched to the Bladerunner Soundtrack channel
Evening was descending quickly as the team approached the Old South Firebender District, once the home to rich elite Fire Nation citizens, back when Republic City was called "Yu Dao" and the Earth Kingdom's resources were more than forcefully pooled into rich residential districts like this. But those were the better days for this part of town. Many of the buildings were abandoned and derelict. The streets were strewn with trash and urchins that ran through it like packs of deer through a silent wood. Only a single well-lite ramen stood sat in the corner of the cul-de-sac. A few factory workers and labormen stood around it chatting and eating their ramen. Senna drove their old sato-mobile in with the windows rolled half way down.
Senna, who was the only who has read all the way through the documented details of the case, approached the alleyway off to the side of the ramen stand. She knew that was where they found one of the bodies, hidden underneath a pile of trash. As she investigated the area for clues the ramen vender shouted at her.
"Hungry? It's half off for cops, especially if you're taking the time to clean up this district. Scary stuff going on around here lately."
Nearer the cop car a street kid tugged on Lee Wong's pant's leg. "Hey Grandpa, how's the leg?" … "How much would you pay to walk again? You lookin for a miracle?" Lee Wong squatted down so he was eye level with the street kid, who looked to be around 8 years of age. He showed him the photos of the victims when they were alive.
"Have you seen any of these people here abouts?" he asked, smiling as if the kid were one of his own fifteen grandchildren.
The kid peered nearsightedly at the photos and then said, "I seen that guy around but not for a while now. I used ta see him around that ole ramen shop." At this Senna gave the bowl of broth sitting on the stove a nasty look and went up to the vender. She showed him the same list of pictures and asked if he's seen any of these people. The vender only gave the photos a glance and then gave his stove a sour look.
"Yeah, that last one was me brother." When he looked up at Senna again the light from the oven's fire reflected in his own. "You know he still had a good six months left. He coulda done it right, made peace with his family, maybe save up a little something for his kids but no. He has to go prancing off to some damn con-man, promising miracles. See that's why we need more cop patrols around this area. People disappearing and showing up later with half their faces blown open… If he hadn't started getting mixed up in Miraclist hoo-doo he'd still be around. I want that con-artist caught."
"Naw-uuh!" piped up the street kid. "The Miraclist is good! He saves people! The ramen vender rolled his eyes at him.
"The world's a lot tougher than you think kid."
Lee Wong smiled again. "Can you show us where The Miraclist is?"
The kid stuck his lower lip and his eyebrows bent down the shake hands with each other. "Maybe… if you're willin to pay for it. And you have to promise that you're not gonna arrest him and take him away. Then all the miracles will be gone."
Senna came over and smiled super sweetly. "We're not going to arrest him. We want to find him so that he can fix this old man's leg."
"Yeah," said Hachikura, piping up, "Why else would police officers be down here at this time of night?"
The kid regarded them carefully and then nodded. "Yeah, police officers never come down here. I know you guys wouldn't want to work too hard or anything." Jinsu who folded his arms and rolled his eyes, but he kept his temper in check.
The kid led them to a big seven story warehouse with a front door and boarded up windows. It was clear at first glance that the building was abandoned. He pointed at the front door and said, "I don't know what he looks like but people go in there sick and they come out walking."
"Thanks kid but our guy is already walking," snapped Senna. The kid frowned and folded his arms, took his coin and left. The team then debated on whether or not to barge in or sneak in or come in openly and fake as patients and have Lee Wong walk in boldly.
"Well regardless," said Jinsu. "I'm not letting anybody get out without our say so." He turned, stopped the ground with a forceful uppercut and a wall of rocky earth slid up in a fence around the building.
Senna peeked through the front door and saw a dark empty foyer with one door at the end, and a faint light coming through it. They entered into the foyer and then peeked through the next door. There was a long dark hallway littered with trash and debris and metal filiments. At the end of the hallway stood a half open door with a bright light showing through it. As they watched a figure passed the door carrying something long. It turned in his wrist and the light reflected down the hall off his large polished knife.
While the others began to debate what to do first Hachikura gathered some of the metal debris lying around and mcguyvered a small hand-bomb. Since Lee Wong was the sneakiest he said he should try to creep down the hallway. He made it about half way down but knocked over a small bin. After the clatter died down they heard a voice from the room say, "Hold on, let me finish this and you can go check on it in a second." Seeing that their cover was about to be blown Hachikura decided they had only one option for surprising them.
"POLICE COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP!" she shouted. Her teammates had about a second to shoot double takes at the huge sound that had come out of their smallest team member before a man burst through the door. He shouted, "I'll hold them off, you get out quick, we'll get the next one!" The man wore a surgical mask over his face and his long doctor's coat had blood on it. He then raised his hands and Hachi felt her body go stiff and she realized she couldn't move. Senna used her water whip to hit the man on the side of the head. Her blow broke his concentration and released Hachi from his blood bending hold. She threw the hand bomb and the darkness of the corridor fractured into jagged pieces of light that faded away into an even darker blindness. Lee Wong swung at the shape of the man with his cane. The figure dodged it but Jinsu took advantage of the distraction. A solid column of rock shot out of the earth at an angle, hitting the man square in the head. The man's neck snapped back and he collapsed on the cold floor.
The team burst through the door behind him. The room was bare concrete and perfectly circular. The full moon shown down through a round skylight above them and centered below its gaze Jin Ro lay cut and open on a table. A woman wearing a surgical mask stood over him.
"No, you can't stop me now!" she cried but Senna quickly used water from a nearby barrel to freeze her in place. The woman could not speak but her eyes flickered between the team mates frantically. And then they heard Jin Ro's voice, soft and weak.
"Who's there?" Senna came to his side. The thrill of victory tall on her shoulders.
"It's okay, Jin Ro, we'll get you to a hospital."
"No! Please!" His voice seemed to leaked out of him "The people at the hospital can't do anything. If you stop them now you'll kill me!"
"What? No Jin, these people are criminals. They were going to kill you."
"They're saving me. I came to them. They are the only ones who can save me."
"The healers at the hospital can save you." Senna's voice was getting smaller.
"I met them at the hospital." Senna stared at him a crease between her eyes. The whole team fell still. "The healers said I had a tumor. They tried everything but there was nothing they could do. These doctors said they could help me."
"Jin Ro," Senna's voice was almost pleading, "They've killed five people."
"I know, and they saved twenty. I met their other patients."
"Who? Do you know their names?" asked Lee.
"Lin, Po, Mon, and another, a man named Kanju."
At the mention of his adversary's name Lee Wong frowned and nodded. "I know these people. These are real people."
"Please let them finish," begged Jin Ro. "If you don't you'll kill me. You'll kill me."
"I still don't know if I trust these guys," said Senna.
"Ask them, ask them," wheezed Jin Ro. Looking doubtful, Senna unfroze the woman's face and pulled off her surgical mask.
"My name is Dr. Quenna Miin," she said. "Please let me finish the surgery or he'll die."
"Why are you doing this?"
"I am from the Northern Water Tribe, and my partner is Dr. Quon Lo. He's from the Southern Water Tribe. Growing up we were taught that blood bending was evil. At a young age we both independently discovered that we had the ability to blood bend but we did not use it because we believed what our elders taught us. But when we enrolled in medical school we began to realize what good potential blood bending had for medicine. We met, became friends and decided to explore this together. We worked to refine our bending, mixing and separating water and oil, then vinegar and water. It was hard because we could only really practice with blood once a month. We tried our first surgeries on each other, just small things at first, like holding back the blood while we stitched up a cut. As we grew more confident in our abilities and as we gained more experience at work we knew we were ready. Our first patient had tried everything and nothing worked. We approached him in secret and we told him the risks. But he agreed. He said he had nothing to lose. We were successful, and he is still alive to this day. Please don't turn us in. Please let us finish this before the moon sets or Jin Ro will die."
After a moment of stunned silence the team agreed but Senna was still suspicious. "Do I have to unfreeze all of you?" she asked Dr. Miin.
"You can leave my legs frozen if you like but I need to have my hands and torso free to continue blood bending, and I'll need my partner Dr. Quon Lo's help too." Senna grumbled but released the doctor from the ice while another team member woke Dr. Quon. The team huddled outside while the surgery continued but Senna demanded she stay in the room with the doctors while they worked, just to make sure. Outside the door the team found Jin Ro's clothes folded up and a photo of him and the other team members back at the Police academy. It was crumpled and worn from touch, like a good-luck charm.
When the surgery was finished the doctors came out to talk to the police team."It went well, said Dr. Miin. I think he'll be allright, sore and weak for a few days but he'll heal up fine." Hachikura let out a tight breath of relief.
"So what are you going to do with us now?" asked Dr. Quenna Miin.
"You'll have to come with us to the station," said Lee Wong.
"No, please don't tell your boss. They'll shut us down and then more people will die. Bloodbending is illegal," pleaded Dr. Miin.
"What would you have us do? Tell Beifong we couldn't find anything?"
"Yes, don't tell her."
"But someone will find you eventually. A surgery will fail and you'll have to hide another body again."
"We'll burn them from now on, there won't be anything left to find."
"But you'll still have people going missing every full moon," said Hachikura. "We need to take you to the station."
"Yeah," Jinsu nodded and pushed his glasses back up his nose "It seems to me that it's not our job to determine or pass judgment on this. That is for the courts to decide."
Dr. Quon Lo nodded at him. "I agree," he said. "I've always thought that if we could have the right backing or influence blood bending wouldn't be so stigmatized as it is now. Our former patients can defend us and you guys can tell them what happened here."
"We'll go with you if you insist," said Dr. Quenna Miin, "but please don't. You don't know what it's like, telling your patient that they have to die, when you still have the power to save them."
"I'm sorry," said Jinsu, he sounded almost like the CEO he used to be, his voice and face firm and diplomatic. His tone seemed to help the doctors understand better than anything he actually said. "But" he continued, "it's not for us to decide this. I think we need we need to take you two downtown." The rest of the team nodded. The doctors looked at each other once and then, slowly, held out their hands to be cuffed.
end Bladerunner background music & cue Pandora Jazz channel again
A few weeks pass in which they heard no news of what happened to Dr.s Miin and Lo when, one day Jin Ro stopped by with an invitation to an awards ceremony.
"I gathered all of the other twenty patients they saved and we defended them to the court," he said. "They had to pay some fines but otherwise the courts let them off. Now the hospital is unveiling a new clinic where they are going to let Dr. Miin and Lo work. It'll have all the newest equipment and proper funding. They'll be able to pursue their blood bending medicine properly now, though within regulations and while reporting all their actions of course. The city is holding an award ceremony for them and all the old patients are going to be there. The doctors wanted you guys to come too."
Beifong, who was passing by gave them a sadistic smirk. "Enjoy the pomp and circus team. I expect you to show a good face for the police force." Senna groaned and put her head on her desk.
Senna was still looking peeved as she sat in the crowd of the awards ceremony, fidgeting morosely in the one dress she owned. Hachikura laughed at her. "Why would you even own a dress!" she chortled. Just then a finger tapped her on her shoulder and she turned around.
"Excuse me," said a man who looked as if he belonged in some some university office. "We," he gestured the two fellows next to him, "Are from the hospital. We've heard that though you were Sato Industries best electricity bender you cannot in actuality fire bend. I have bet these two gentlemen that this could not possibly be so. Can you please fire bend for us and enlighten these two fellows here of their pockets?"
"Umm," Hachi bit her lip. "Are you sure?"
"Just do your best. Your electricity bending and engineering work at Sato industries is legendary, you must be a superb firebender."
"Well, okay." Hachi shrugged, brought her hands together and furrowed her brow in concentration. Senna ducked under a chair as a raging fireball exploded and knocked over the row in front of her. At the epicenter sat a very grumpy Hachi, her hair singed and most of her left eyebrow missing. The three gentlemen seemed frozen in shock. One of them blinked, shook himself, and nudged the other.
"Allright you seen, pay up now!"
Senna hid her smile as Hachi doused a flame still burning faintly in her hair.
Over on the other end of the row Lee Wong was busy trying to coddle up job opportunities for his grandkids. He pulled out a picture wallet and when it unfolded to show his progeny it reached the ground and then some. But then the orchestra began to play and the audience quieted down. Katara hobbled up to the microphone to give the opening speech. Hachikura, though, was staring at her partner. Senna's mouth was twitching and she seemed to be struggling to keep from showing some less-than-professional emotion.
"My husband was always remarkable in that he could see the good where others only saw their own pain. Even I often fell victim to my own hatred and hurt. But these doctors have reminded me of the principles with which my husband approached all people. When I discovered blood bending it was at the hands of a murderer, a poor old woman driven to acts of terror. These doctors have shown me that what was in her need not be in the power of bending itself. It is rather, how we use our power that distinguishes us. Even after all I have seen in my long life, these two doctors have been a light in the darkness, a beacon of hope to an old woman. That goodness and compassion will live on in the world, long after I leave it."
At the close of the speech Senna stood up, clapping furiously, her left eye twitching as she struggled to keep impassive. Hachi pulled her down and whispered, "Hold on to yourself, fan girl!"
As Hachi helped Senna get a hold of herself something odd happened to the music. Though the rest of the orchestra was playing a cheery marching beat, the cello started playing a different tune. At first nobody noticed because the orchestra hid the sound but as the other band members realized what their celloist was doing they fell silent to turn and stare and listen.
Cue the 'The Rains of Castamere'—No. The DM ACTUALLY stopped the Pandora Jazz channel and started playing 'The Rains of Castamere' on youtube. This link in fact /OVOf6HEur5Y
Around the open air plaza people pulled Equalists masks over their faces. Even the celloist reached up and pulled a mask over his face. As the music echoed across the tile, equalists rushed toward the stage. Senna gasped and ran forward through the fleeing crowd. But she'd needn't have worried. Tenzin was by his mother's side in an instant and pulled her away to safety. The other members of the council were scattering too.
Confident that her hero was safely out of the way Senna wiped her face with her sleeve and then raising her arms as if she were casting and drawing in a net, she pulled water from a nearby fountain out onto the ground in a hard slick sheet of ice. A few of the equalists stumbled but then they adjusted and went straight after her. Hachikura saw them coming giggling manaically as she stood upon her folded chair she cast out a surge of lightning from her fingers that effectively fried all of their electric gloves.
"Silly eqaulists," she chortled. "I used to work at Sato Industries. I know exactly how to handle their tech."
Despite their singed fingers the first group of equalists reached Senna and quickly chi blocked her. She tried to scatter them with her water whip but nothing happened. Over by where the orchestra had fled a second group of equalists raised their bows and took aim at Jinsu. He dodged them though and five earth pillars catapulted the archers into the stratosphere. cue Team Rocket sound effects
Lee Wong snuck up behind the third group of chi-blockers and within two seconds and blur of an old man's wooden cane, all of them but one had been knocked out. The last one though was able to chi-block his arm so that he dropped his cane.
Suddenly from two directions, two small speedy zeppelins appeared in the air above the plaza and ropes carrying more chi-blockers began to descend from above.
The first group of sindged equalists, their broken gloves now useless, attacked Hachikura whose cackles of glee were quickly turned into cries that went more along the lines of, "Wait, I can't do this, somebody come get me out of here!" Luckily she was as quick to move as she was to cry and dodging their attacks gained a little distance from them.
Once free of chi-blockers her devilish grin returned as she looked above her. The zeppelins were far above her but she mustered all her strength (and stats), aimed and fired. It was as if Thor had landed. A giant bolt of lightning shot up from her diminutive form and hit western zeppelin right in the navigation controls. It began to waver and careen slightly to the left.
Taking advantage of the distraction Senna tried to forcefully attack the equalists but they dodged her attacks easily. She wasn't used to fighting without water bending and in another chi-blocking attack she passed out cold on the plaza tiles. Hachikura watched, horrified as a rope from the yet undamaged eastern zeppelin descended and Senna was quickly tied and hoisted up into the enemy ship. Jinsu pulled out a massive earth bending column, tilted it sideways and rammed it into the last group of chi blockers. But far down at the other end of the plaza Lee Wong was still dodging the last remaining chi blocker. He ducked and rolled; trying to get back his staff and regain his advantage but just as his fingers closed upon his weapon he felt blows across his back and neck. In another instant he too was being hoisted into the air. Jinsu and Hachikura looked at each other across the battlefield. Their elders were gone. They were the only ones left.
There was a shout from near the stage and when they turned around to see what was happening they saw equalists pulling the Dr.'s Quenna and Quon up from where they had knelt tending some of the wounded crowd. Hachikura and Jinsu started running but by the time they got close enough the doctors were being hoisted above their heads. One of the equalists was riding up the rope with the two Doctors, ready to defend its bounty. They weren't too far away yet though.
Jinsu could feel his temper flaring. He'd only taken the job as a police officer to get away from the loan sharks who'd been after them ever since that damned equalist spy Sato had tanked Cabbage Corp. And now a Sato-designed zeppelin had taken his friends as well. Bringing his fists down and up in a furious circle a rock pillar shot out of the ground under his feet propelling him nearly level with the ascending rope. He punched forward and rock disks slid off the top of the column and shot out at the Equalist abductor.
The masked woman flinched as the rocks hit her side, and her shoulder. Her neck twisted back when the third blow hit her face, ripping at the mask that hid her. She turned slowly back toward Jinsu and even as he landed back on earth he watched the equalist woman pull away the rest of her mask revealing a face he'd thought he'd known.
On the ground Hachikura's hands covered her mouth. "Daeyoon!" Dr Quenna and Quon also looked above them, horrified. Daeyoon glanced down at her bounty, a scar of a smile on her face.
"Do you recognize me Doctor? The patient you could not save? I tried to work within the law but even policemen don't always do that. See I never fully understood why Amon's revelation should have caused so many equalists to fall away. The principle he fought for still stands. When faced with an unequal power situation the ultimate answer isn't to find balance as the avatar so naively claims. The only solution is to destroy the power itself. But there is more than one way to do that. For what can be taken away can also be given." And then she stretched out her hands before her as if holding a stringed puppet. Jinsu felt himself go rigid. His body sat down and knelt before Daeyoon.
Desperate Hachikura reacted without thinking. She moved into her stance and aimed. A bolt of thin concentrated lightening left her finger tips and hit the ropes that bound Dr. Quon. He jerked violently but then tore the singed ropes from around him, jumped and rolled to the ground at the last second as Daeyoon and Dr. Quenna ascended the last few feet into the zeppelin and flew away. Jinsu felt the hold lift from him and he knew it was over. Beifong and the rest of the police force arrived shortly after but there wasn't much left for them to save.
