Lying in a hospital bed is one of Lin Beifong's favourite ways to spend the weekend.
Ha! You wish!
"Get me the fuck out of here!" she yelled.
In the truest sense she hated it. No. Hate would be gentle, loathe is appropriate. Her abilities and skills did not put her to her current position. As a matter of fact, it was Saikhan's choice, Beun's, metalbending abilities that left her with a deep gash by her right side which made her miss a would-be awesome weekend with Kya and turned it into a boring, antiseptic-smelling, all white detention in the hospital.
She swore under her breath as the painkillers slowly lose their effect and the wound started to sting again. She would not have to suffer the woes of having a useless and sorry excuse of a policeman as a partner had she not resigned during the Equalist Revolution. But then she did. So she had to suffer the consequences of a sort of pointless resignation and be demoted to the almost bottom of the Metalbending Police Force foodchain.
A nurse came in her room followed by a tired-looking Saikhan. "How are you, Miss Beifong?"
Lin answered with a groan and Saikhan sat on the chair across her bed. "This is all your fault," she wearily snapped. It was truly remarkable for Saikhan's part how an injured 50-year old and under the fading effects of painkillers to still have the ability to snap at him. He smiled at her amidst Lin's bitter disposition.
Of all responses he could give, he smiled at her.
She hated his smile at that moment. She wanted to slap his smile away so bad her fingers twitched at the sight of him. She had been back on the force for almost a couple of months and all he did was assign her clumsy, utterly terrible partners to investigate Equalist lairs which ended up either with the Equalists getting away, or either she or her useless partners injured. This time, it was the latter and she swore it would be the last time.
"What do you want, Saikhan?" she asked in a weak voice, "pairing me up with another useless asshole? Or have you already decided to just keep me within the headquarters doing fucked up paper works for your lame officers?"
Saikhan frowned at her venomous words but chose not to counter it. After all, another wrong doesn't make the other right. "Actually, Lin, I found you your perfect partner," he said softly.
Lin groaned at his announcement and at the very moment a thin but toned young woman with porcelain skin, wearing baggy pants and faded black tank top stood by her doorway. Her boring expression told Lin this kid felt the same way she did.
Saikhan continued, "This is Inspector Nina Choi of the Yu Dao Police Department. I hope your partnership would bring more good than harm for the both of you."
The younger woman nodded and raised a hand to say, "'Sup?" at Lin.
The former police chief did not look so pleased after the immature greeting. She felt insulted. "Are you kidding me? Is this some kind of a joke?" She clutched her side and tried her best to successfully sit up and grimaced at Nina. "There is no way I'm paring up with a teenager-
"I'm twenty-six," Nina calmly corrected after raising an eyebrow.
Lin was surprised at Nina's slightly rough voice and shook her head. "I don't care. Look Saikhan, I won't do it."
There was a stretch of silence after Lin's withdrawal and Saikhan did not dare speak. But Nina wouldn't take the older woman's underestimation of her being.
"Chief, if I may?" Nina started. "It seems grandma over here is still under the trauma from her latest failed attempt to capture one Equalist. I think it would be best to speak to her when she has already moved on from her traumatic experience last night and be freed from the effects of morphine," she turned to Lin and said, "oh and Lin Beifong, I may be young but I'm as bad as your worst criminal. So better take your calcium pills and your multivitamins because with me, it's gonna be one hell of a ride."
She left before Lin or Saikhan could react prompting the former chief to scowl at Chief Saikhan. The latter reacted with a grimace and added, "She has a good record. The Yu Dao Police Department recommended her saying she's their finest. Councilman Tenzin wouldn't have approved her transfer if he didn't see the evidence of her track record."
Immediately at the sound of Councilman Tenzin's name, Lin's head snapped and made her ask Saikhan, "What does Tenzin have to do with her relocation?"
"Well, he replaced Tarrlok as Head of National Defense after the Revolution," he answered casually. Lin never knew about it. She never really cared about the 'big bosses' that run the defense sector of the government nor was she familiar with their names since she considered all of them as a bunch of 'useless, chair-warming idiots' who do the lame assignments and do the big time complaints whenever something goes wrong.
Lin nodded at the wake of her defeat and let out a big sigh. "I guess I don't have much of a choice, do I?"
"No."
Lin slowly lay on her back and closed her eyes, "Get the hell out, Saikhan. You're making my stitches open up one by one with your greasy bald head."
The man chuckled slightly at her casual insult and turned to leave, "See you in a week or so, Lin."
Lin was back after a week, surprising Saikhan. She held in her hand a warm cup of coffee and strode with an air of pride and sternness through the halls of the headquarters before being greeted by a nervous Beun.
"Welcome back, Lin," he stammered through his supposed-to-be cheerful greeting.
"Hello, useless," Lin replied without giving him even the slightest glance. Murmurs followed her until her cubicle which, to her dismay, was beside to the cubicle of no other than Nina Choi.
"Good morning," her new partner said with a fake smile. "How's the gash? Still stinging?"
Lin took a sip from her coffee before answering, "nope."
"Too bad," Nina snorted. Lin took a seat and opened the stack of folders on her desk one by one. Her hands skimmed through the reports but her mind wandered aimlessly to the man who signed the relocation of her tactless, young, teenage-looking partner.
"How did Councilman Tenzin know of you?" she suddenly asked the young person across her.
Nina looked up to meet the challenging eyes of Lin Beifong. She shrugged her shoulders and answered, "I'm really good at what I do."
Lin cocked an eyebrow and crossed her arms. She was really surprised at the newbie's confidence. "Really?" she challenged.
Nina huffed at her follow up question and turned to her with a provocative expression and returned with a, "yes, I am extremely good at my job unlike some people who," she paused in search of words to supply and let her eyes fall on Lin, "are not."
"Confidence," Lin countered, "I'll give you that."
"Thank you," Nina accepted. "My turn."
"Go on," Lin permitted.
Nina let out a fake laugh and turned to Lin with menacing eyes, "speaking of the councilman, weren't you dating Councilman Tenzin before?" The question was asked a little bit too loud and the whole room went silent, eyes on Lin who seemed to have been hit by a boulder. Her expression turned sour as she looked at their officemates who left their early morning conversations just to hear what she has to say.
"What are you all looking at?" she spat at them, "get back to work."
"Choi, Beifong," a stern voice called to them. Both officers mentioned turned their heads at Saikhan and the rest of the office scrambled back to their work. "I need to speak to both of you."
Both women entered the office and sat on two opposite chairs across the Chief's desk, waiting to what he has to say. Saikhan sat on his chair and faced the partners. "I need you to work on the Lieutenant's case."
"Good," Lin replied. "When do I start?"
Nina countered her question with a laugh so airy to be considered real and said, "I think you're forgetting we're partners. I have the most unfortunate luck to be paired with you."
"I work alone," Lin snapped.
"Oh please," she exclaimed, "spare me that spoiled, over-used line. Look, you should be grateful you get to work with me, grandma."
"Alright, enough!" Saikhan barked. "You are working with each other on this case and to help you trust each other, I am ordering you, Lin, to take Officer Choi in your apartment and you will live together until this outlaw will be caught. No buts, and no complaints! This is an order and both of you will comply or else you will be fired. Understood?"
Both officers were taken aback but both knew they were defeated.
"Yes, sir," escaped their lips and together, they made their way out of the Chief's office.
"You'll sleep on the floor," Lin yelled at Nina.
"I'll put sugar on your bed to attract ants that will surely painfully nip at your privies," the young woman countered.
For the whole morning, the two partners exchanged threats but the whole office saw more than that. This case would surely be fun.
A/N: I'm still thinking if I'll incorporate some Linzin. Comment if you think I should. Hope you enjoyed this.