A/N: I'm starting a new story! Maybe I can actually finish this one, eh?
Rated T
I do not own the Legend of Korra.
Officer Chi had been on the force for nearly five months now. In that small amount of time, she had seen a lot of things. When one worked in such close proximity to the Triads, you had to deal with turf wars, exortions, and other crimes. She was stationed on Red Monsoon territory, and in the past week alone she had arrested a group who were harassing an immigrant family living by the docks, and stopped two robberies. Others at headquarters liked to joke around about how green behind the ears the rookies were. She usually took it in stride, but tonight, she realized just how fresh she still was.
This was her first dead body.
A young man, mid-twenties from the look of him, mouth gaping and eyes wide and glossy. Soaked to the bone, her first thought might have been that he had drowned: if he had been near water. The harbor was five blocks away, and he didn't smell of seawater anyway. She ran to her bike, and radioed for backup.
The investigators arrived fairly quickly, and worked even faster. She had a funny feeling that they were looking for something in particular. She approached her superior, Lieutenant Tam, who was overseeing the proceeding with a grim expression.
"So what's the situation sir?" she asked.
"It appears to be just as you said, Officer. Probably drowned," he responded without turning to her.
"But sir, there isn't any water nearby…"
"About fifteen years ago, I used to see cases just like this. I was still new to the force, not much older than you…"
"Did they ever catch the culprit?"
"The investigators were looking at the Tassuq twins."
"Tassuq? As in Anuka Tassuq, head of the Red Monsoons?" she asked, surprised.
Tam nodded. "Her and her twin brother Hassun. But they never found the evidence to convict them, not to mention the fact that their father had a great lawyer. And after Hassun was killed in a turf war, Anuka started laying low."
Chi knew that Anuka Tassuq rarely got involved with the activities of her gang, preferring to delegate rather than get her own hands dirty. She followed the Lieutenant over to an investigator who was writing on a pad of paper.
"What do you think, Detective?" Tam asked. The detective glanced up, and pushed his glasses upward on the bridge of his nose.
"Definitely looks like drowning to me, but we'll need an autopsy to be sure. And I'm not sure he drowned here, either. If you look over here," he said, pointing to the ground near the body, "There are what appear to be drag marks, which probably means that he was brought here posthumously."
"Any other clues?" Chi asked.
"There was a ring near the body. Whale bone from the look of it," the detective said, producing a small bag from his pocket. He opened it, and dumped the small, round, white object onto his palm. Lieutenant Tam gingerly lifted it with two fingers and inspected it. Chi saw an intricate design carved on its face. It looked vaguely familiar…
"The Tassuq family crest…" Tam muttered, and Chi instantly recognized it: the same design was worn on the breast pins of the Red Monsoons. "Were their any witnesses?" Tam demanded, as the body was lifted, and carried past them.
"We checked with everyone in these apartments, but we only found one witness," the detective said leading them towards the front of the apartment building. A young man was sitting on the steps. He was short, and almost painfully thin, his golden eyes clouded with sleep.
"Sir, this is Insu," the detective introduced. The young man stood up, and gave them a bow. They returned it, and the boy nodded, looking utterly terrified.
"Tell me, Insu, what did you see this evening?" Lieutenant Tam asked. The boy looked around nervously, as though afraid of being overheard.
"Well, it's like I told the detectives. I had just come home from work, and I was getting ready for bed, when I heard shouting in the alley. I went to look, and I saw this woman. She was waterbending, and she had this guy inside a big ball of water, you know? And I yelled, and she turned and ran off."
"And what did this woman look like?" Tam asked, looking a bit excited.
"Uhh… let's see… she was kind of dark… Water Tribe looking, you know? She was short, and she had a big, fluffy coat."
Tam thanked him, and Chi followed him back to where the investigators stood. "I think we should bring Anuka Tassuq into headquarters," he said. "As of right now, she is a person of interest in this investigation."
An hour later, Officer Chi watched as the detectives led Anuka Tassuq out of her home in handcuffs. The petite woman was screeching at the top of her lungs, kicking and struggling against her restraints. They were followed by two very wet officers escorting her two, tall, burly bodyguards. Madame Tassuq glowered at Chi as she passed. Lieutenant Tam patted her gently on the shoulder.
"We'll question her down at headquarters. I'd love nothing more than to get The Monsoons leader behind bars, so maybe we'll get lucky this time. With that kid's testimony, and the ring we found, she has a lot to explain."
"Are we sure we got the right person, sir?" Chi asked as they drove away. "What about those drag marks?"
"Didn't you notice her parka? It drags along on the ground. I bet it got wet, and that's what made those drag marks at the scene. She's the one, officer. I'm sure of it…"
A/N: Thank you for reading. I hope to have chapter 2 done by next weekend, so look for it.