investigator
(character) Meelo
(quote) "I want to commit the murder I was imprisoned for." - Sirius Black, JK Rowling
(genre) Crime
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Lin Beifong paused awkwardly in the middle of a secluded path in the middle of Republic City Park. Directly across from her was Tenzin. Directly in front of Tenzin was a massive air spiral. Directly on top of the massive spiral was a very bald, very small, screaming child with snot coming out of his nose and what sounded like a small fart every twenty or so seconds.
"Ahem. Hello. Chief Beifong." coughed Tenzin awkwardly.
"Hmmf." replied Lin shortly. A long silence commenced, punctuated by another one of the small baby's massive farts.
"Nice weather." said Tenzin, nodding towards the sky.
Lin sniffed once and said, "Well, I'll be leaving now, if you don't mind. Lots of work to do."
And it was true; Lin did have a lot of work to do. And she took a walk into Republic City park with the intention of escaping some of the stress of her office.
Instead, she gets the wonderful opportunity to meet her ex, as well as his most recent...offspring. It seemed that the world was just intent on screwing her over.
Ah well...back to work it was.
Lin turned and stopped short when she saw an iroh-clad figure hurrying towards her, suspended on metal cables.
"Chief," said the man, slightly out of breath in front of her, "There's been a prison escape!"
"What? Which cell?" snapped Beifong, "Which case was it?"
"The Sato murderer." replied the man curtly "Room B00"
Lin rubbed her head as a migraine started, "He's a non bender that has been reported to be easy to apprehend the first time."
"He had assistance this time though."
"Who? He's been in prison for about three and a half years now; nobody could've possibly contacted him."
"Uh...we suspect the Equalists-"
"The Equalists have been a very small and ineffective protest group," replied Lin, "It isn't likely for them to break out the killer."
"Ma'am, that is the second concern," said the young police officer, "I believe that we've uncovered some evidence that prisoner B00 is actually not the killer."
"What?"
"A few months ago, there was an attack on a brothel by the Agni Kai Triad and two women were murdered in a similar fashion as the Sato Case, and again in a year ago, the same thing happened to a shopkeeper's wife, but it neither was thought to be significant enough to reach your ears. We thought they were just casualties of the robberies. "
Lin pinched the bridge of her nose. "Why are you telling me this now?" she sighed, "Have there been background checks on the establishments and victims?"
"No...we are working on that now."
"Do you have anything so far?" snapped Lin, irritated that she had been left uninformed, as though she were incompetent.
"The victims all came from upper class families, but have either run away or been disowned. They've also spent their entire lives in Republic City."
Lin squeezed her eyes shut and tried to think. It's true that the original suspect could've been the killer, but what was his motivation? He didn't strike her as someone who would be a serial killer, yet his behavior for the days following the Yasuko Sato's murder was extremely suspicious. He showed clear paranoia, carrying a knife and looking over his shoulders constantly. Additionally, he snuck into alleyways and disappeared underground in passages in Agni Kai territory, who was thought to be responsible for breaking into the mansion. Yet if he was smart enough to sneak around the Sato's secure home unimpeded, he had to be smart enough to cover his tracks.
In her mind, Lin recalled all the facts from the case. All they really knew was that the kill was a collaboration between a non bender and the Agni Kai Triad. There was still little progress on finding the Agni Kai hideout, and now a mass of affluent, or formerly affluent, women were being murdered.
"Y'know what?" barked Lin, "Let's deal with our escaped convict first."
Twenty five minutes later, Lin was perched on top of a building with two other officers, scanning the area for any sign of the Equalist group. Suddenly, she felt a breeze by her ear and heard the familiar sound of a glider snapping together.
"Lin." greeted Tenzin as he landed beside her.
"What are you doing here?" she replied in an unfriendly tone.
"You might need some help finding the prisoner." said Tenzin, "I could do some scouting from above-"
"Do you really think an escapee would be marching around in broad daylight?" asked Lin, "You'll never see him just walking around. You have to find strategic areas where he's likely to show up."
Tenzin simply sighed and crouched down.
"Y'know Lin, I wish you wouldn't be so sour."
"I wish you wouldn't be such a wimpy moron."
"Okay, that's not fair."
Suddenly, Tenzin tensed up. Lin glanced at him, following his line of sight into the alleyway, where a two small group of scruffy men were exiting from what looked like a solid stone wall. Lin squinted hard and could barely make out a wolftail from one of the men. The other one was wearing a tight cap.
C'mon, just move a little...THERE.
He had shifted just enough for Lin to be able to spot a long black whisker, like a catfish.
"I think that's him." hissed Lin as she nodded down, "That guy with the hood."
The officers leaned over the edge.
"You wanna attack 'em Chief?" asked one of the officers.
"Yeah. Be careful of the ponytail guy, I don't know if he's a bender or not."
And with that, Lin sprang off the rooftop.
A food thirty feet before she hit the ground, She saw the ponytail man look up, almost as if he had a sixth sense that alerted him of her presence. He spun around and tugged the escaped prisoner into his side with one hand and skillfully deflecting Lin's metal cable with the other.
Ah, so he isn't a bender.
But even if he didn't have the power of an element, Lin could clearly tell this was a man to be reckoned with. He dodged her attacks like an airbender, and on the rare occasion that she landed a blow, he deflected the hit and somehow tugged her into a disadvantaged position. And his movements were almost...inhuman. He always jumped a foot to high, his feet touching the ground too lightly, his hands too hard to be damaged by her wires, his face pale and unflushed despite the heat of the fight.
And as she fought him, she felt a sense of sluggishness in her limbs, like they were full of fatigue. Briefly, she wondered if the air had been poisoned.
But finally, Lin figured out where Ponytail's weak link was; it was their runaway prisoner.
"Focus on the other one," she said to Tenzin and her officers, "He's the one we want."
Tenzin hastily blew a massive gust of wind down the alley, knocking over everything in sight. Everything besides Lin that was; Lin had fought side by side with Tenzin often enough to predict his style. It was odd how they fell back to being partner on the job, despite such conflict in their past.
After that she managed to wrap a cable around the other man's throat, and Ponytail froze mid-fight, a dark shadow coming over his eyes. He looked like he was on the verge of losing it.
"Make no sudden moves." said Lin gruffly, as tugged off the mustached man's hood and bound his hands.
"You bitch." he growled, "I could kill you."
"Your buddy has already killed one person, isn't that enough?"
"I'm innocent for that!" shouted the bound prisoner, "Though I do want to commit the murder I was imprisoned for now, even if it's not on the same person."
"Tough luck." replied Lin.
She turned away, intending to call a van to come pick them up, but before she could move another muscle, she heard a loud clanging and the panicked yells of Tenzin and her officers, and the moment she turned around, a cold hand clamped down on her shoulder, the one spot where she had little armor, and the world started becoming grey. The last thing she was was the Ponytail man snapping the metal cable clean in half with his fingers, as though they were steel or icicles, cutting through the iron cords.
By the time Lin, Tenzin, and the officers arrived back at the station, it was already nightfall. Lin had woken up woozy and uncharacteristically sore.
"Spirits, who was that monster of a man?" muttered Lin, rubbing her head. She and her attack team were all some of the strongest officers in the force; they should've been able to take two unarmed non benders without a problem.
"Are you sure he wasn't a bender?" asked Tenzin beside her. His face was similarly contorted in discomfort.
"He was definitely a nonbender, but his movements seemed very familiar."
"Hmm?"
"Yeah...it almost felt like I was fighting the Monsoons." said Lin.
"Interesting." said Tenzin, stroking his beard.
"Stop pretending to look sage." snapped Lin.
Tenzin withdrew his hand and shot her a reproachful look. "You know, I was just thinking about what motivation those two non benders could possibly have for murdering Mrs. Sato."
"Now that I think about it, perhaps we have made a mistake." sighed Lin, "But there are almost no leads on who the real killer is."
"Even if those two weren't the killers though, they still resisted police attempts, and quite effortlessly."
"Yes. I expect we'll have to keep an eye out in the future." replied Lin, "I have a feeling there's more to this whole thing than meets the eye."
There is actually an ending but I was too lazy to write it so go read the other parts to this in the probending circuit.