Shout out to BG-13

Korra woke up the next morning feeling a lot better. The nausea had gone away and she was up and about by noon. Mako insisted she stay in bed to no avail.

"I have Avatar duties," she reminded him. He sighed and simply wrapped an arm around her waist as they met with the adults. On their way there the twins ran up to their mother tackling her to the floor with an 'ooph!". The Firebender chuckled.

"Mom! You're awake!" Karah said with a smile.

"Are you ok?" Mac added with a smile of his own.

The Waterbender laughed and sat up. "Well considering I just got tackled to the ground, yes, I'm fine," she replied tenderly.

"Where are you going?" the little Firebender asked.

"I have to discuss some things with the other adults," she explained, not going into further detail. The twins frowned.

"Can we go with Meelo to the city? We want some ice cream," Mac asked. Korra hesitated for a moment, looking at her husband. He nodded.

"Fine, but stay close to him," the Waterbender instructed. Her kids nodded as their father helped her back up.

"Be careful," Mako cautioned as they ran out the house. Korra sighed and continued to the living room were the rest of the adults waited for them.

"Oh! I know what flavor I want!" Karah said as they got to the ice cream shop.

"What would you like?" the vendor asked.

"Leechi flavor, please," she said. The lady smiled and handed it over. Meelo ordered the same but Mac didn't seem to be able to make up his mind.

"If you want, I can give you a few minutes? I'll be next door," the Airbender suggested. He nodded.

"I'll go with you," the little Firebender stated going after him.

The little Waterbender was left alone, scratching his head trying to pick out a flavor. A man who was accompanied by a woman stared at him.

"That's the Avatar's son," Kan stated simply. The woman raised a brow and looked at the boy before grinning slyly.

"Oh, is he?" she replied, standing up. Kan grabbed her wrist.

"What are you going to do?" She cocked her head to the side before pulling her hand out of his.

"Get to know my enemy," she simply replied, fixing her hair before heading towards the boy. She tapped him on the shoulder and he turned to look at her. "Hello, I hear you're the Avatar's son."

He nodded. "Yeah," he replied.

"I'm a big fan you know," she began, kneeling down to his level. "Your mommy is quite the fighter, isn't she?"

Mac nodded again. "The best."

Taren chuckled. "Of course. She probably knows every technique there is."

"Most."

The Nonbender smiled impatiently. She was going to have to cut to the chase. "There's Lightning, Metalbending, and oh, what's that other one? Oh yeah, Bloodbending."

The little Waterbender stiffened. "My mom doesn't know Bloodbending."

"Oh?" she asked, raising a brow. "But it's quite the powerful technique; she must at least know how to overcome its block."

Mac shifted uncomfortably. This woman was asking too many questions and he didn't know whether he should be answering them. "No. She doesn't know that either."

"How do you know?" she asked curiously.

"I just do," he replied before looking at the vendor. "I'll have the same as my sister." The woman nodded as she took a cup to put the ice cream in.

"And your father?" Taren asked.

"What about him?"

"He doesn't talk much, does he? You remind me of him," she commented smugly.

Mac raised a brow. "Yeah, he's not much of a talker, especially around people he's not particularly fond of."

The Nonbender 's interest was piqued a bit at this. "And who would that be?"

He thought about it for a moment. "I know he isn't too happy about General Iroh being here," he answered. The woman had to hold back a laugh at this.

"Really? I wonder why?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. Grown up stuff I guess."

"He has to be descent fighter to be with your mother."

Mac nodded. "They were both Pro Benders. He was the captain of the Fire Ferrets. He's really good."

"Is he?" she said thoughtfully. "What can he do?"

"He can create and redirect lightning."

"Interesting, I bet that he and your mommy spar all the time."

The little Waterbender shook his head. "Dad is very protective of Mom. He doesn't let anything or anyone hurt her."

Taren smiled. "Like any other husband."

Mac shook his head again. "You don't understand," he began. "Their relationship is different."

The Nonbender gave the boy a confused look but continued on with her questionnaire. "And you and your sister?"

"What do you want to know?"

"It sounds like you have very talented parents, you both have to be very talented as well," she admired.

He shrugged. "I guess."

"What is your sister?"

"A Firebender. She can redirect lightning but not create it, yet."

"Oh? Why is that?"

He shrugged again.

Taren sighed impatiently again. This kid was being very vague. "And you?"

"Waterbender."

"Ah! A Waterbender! What skills do you know?"

"Nothing special, just healing," he replied.

"No Bloodbending either? But I can sense so much potential!" she cried.

Mac grimaced, clenching his fist. "I don't like that technique," he said through his teeth.

The woman blinked innocently at the child. She knew she'd just struck a nerve. She was about to question him further when his sister called at him from the door.

"Mac! Let's go!"

"Coming!" he replied, taking the ice cream and turning to look at the woman. "If you'll excuse me," he added, walking away from her. Taren smirked, noting how the boy had almost used his father's words.

"What did he tell you?" Kan asked, walking over to her.

"Enough for me to know that the Avatar is of no threat to me," she simply replied, turning to look at him. "Of that I'm certain."

"Have you found any more victims?" Tenzin asked as the Avatar and her husband walked in.

Lin nodded once. "Three more. Same M.O. They were all leaders of their respective mobs."

"So she's targeting all of the gang leaders in Republic City," Zuko noted.

"Looks like it," Bumi replied. "But why?"

"She's expanding her territory," Iroh stated. "Taren is all about control. If she control's the underground, she can control the city.

Lin scoffed. "Not while I'm around."

"I'm sorry to say this, Chief, but this woman is out of your league," the General responded.

The Earthbender narrowed her eyes at him before standing up. "You clearly don't know what I'm capable of."

"With all due respect, neither do you," the Firebender said, standing up as well.

"Don't blame me for your failure in containing the problem. You are in my city, and you will follow my rules. I don't care that you're the General of the United Forces. You will do as I say," she countered.

"Enough," Korra interjected. "Both of you sit down. Fighting amongst ourselves isn't going to get this murderer off the streets. We need to figure out a plan to take her down."
"So far she's outsmarted us," the Commander stated. "She always seems to be one step ahead of us."

"There has to be something we are overlooking," the Airbender said. Everyone nodded.

"The question is: what is it?" the Avatar replied.

For the next few hours the adults examined the case files of the notorious murders. Nothing seemed to be of importance. They just stated some family history, and the charges that will be pressed against them, if and when they were captured. Korra sighed in frustration at not finding anything that might help understand this woman, correction, monster better. When the sun set they decided to call it a day and she returned home with her husband and children.

"Korra, what are you doing?" Mako asked after he had put their children to bed.

"There has to be something we aren't seeing," she replied, looking through the papers sprawled all over the kitchen table.

"Can't you do that tomorrow? It's late," he insisted. She shook her head.

"Go to bed. I'll be there in a bit." He sighed and kissed her temple before going back up stairs.

A few hours later Korra huffed again in frustration, running her hands through her hair. She went over the information in her head:

Hekate was Taren's father, a well known mob leader who controlled most of Ba Sing Se's underground world. He was a Waterbender and sworn enemy of Yakone, who "stole" his ability to Bloodbend without the aid of the full moon.

Kan was adopted by the man when he was eight years old. Taren was a newborn whose mother died at child birth. It was rumored that Hekate taught Kan how to Bloodbend but the theory had no foundation since they weren't sure he was able to Bloodbend himself.

Taren was pretty much raised by Kan, who'd become her bodyguard and protector since they were children. Both were trained in various forms of martial arts and knew how to handle weaponry.

Hekate passed away from a heart attack when Taren was sixteen, leaving Kan as her guardian. It was believed that was when her sadistic nature came into light.

The pair were inseparable but had never been involved romantically, at least no proof had been found. They work together as a team, but don't rely on one another. Taren's goal seemed to be to expand her father's territory, whatever the cost.

Korra groaned loudly and placed her head on the table. All this thinking was making her head hurt, and she still hadn't found what she was looking for. If there was anything to find in the first place. She looked at a younger picture of Kan and wondered how a sweet little boy like him had turned out to be a monster. She put it next to the pictures of Taren and Hekate before laying her head on top of her arms and closing her eyes.

Mako opened his eyes and noticed his wife still wasn't next to him. He glanced at the clock. 3 a.m. The Firebender sighed heavily before heading back downstairs. He smiled when he found her sound asleep, snoring lightly. Careful not to wake her up, he picked her up and took her to bed. Korra groggily opened her eyes while he took off her shirt but closed them as he leaned her against his shoulder while taking off her pants. Once she was in her underclothes he lay down and placed her head on his chest while wrapping a blanket around her.

"Thank you," she muttered before going back to sleep.

He smiled and kissed her forehead softly, hoping that she wouldn't have any nightmares that night.