A/N: Just note that this story plays pretty loose with the Republic City Hustle canon
The shopkeeper's eyes widens with fear as Mako approaches his shop with the Triad gang colors emboldened upon his vest. He knows the drill. The gang wants its protection money. The enforcer is there to get it from him. That doesn't make it any less terrifying.
Mako knocks on the door and waits outside patiently. He knows many gang members in his position like to barge in forcefully and demand the money, but he prefers to settle these matters with as little destruction as possible. It somehow makes what he is doing less horrible. The shopkeeper opens the door trembling.
"Come in", he says nervously. Mako enters the establishment. It is an used cloth shop full of moth eaten sweaters and ripped pants that reveal more than they covered. Even for a shop in the this type of neighborhood it was ratty.
"Would you like to sit down and have some tea?" The shopkeeper asks, desperation in his voice.
"No thank you," Mako says. It will probably be mostly water anyways. He continues, "I'm just here for the money."
"I swear I can get it for you if you just give me a few days."
"You said that to the previous enforcer a week ago. You will have no more leniency. Give me the money now."
"You see, the only problem is that I don't have it," the man stammers, wishing to be anywhere but here. Little does he know that Mako wishes the same.
"Then you know what I have to do, don't you?" Mako says, his voice full of menace.
The shopkeeper nods his head and sags in defeat. He doesn't try to run. He knows it would be useless. Mako forcefully shoves the man to the ground and begins stomping on him mercilessly. Mako does not use his fire bending. He never uses his fire bending on these tasks, he does not want to give these shopkeepers injuries they can't recover from without a hospital because what hospital would treat people from people of his neighborhood?
He would like to say that it hasn't gotten any easier since his first time but it is all too easy to ignore the moans of pain emanating from the shopkeeper and instead Mako focuses on the fact that he has no other place to go than the gang. He is street trash and the Triads is the garbage bin where people like him go.
But most importantly to Mako is Bolin. Mako began his life of crime at eight when his parents died and he wa left to fend for himself with his brother to take care of. The Triads had swooped in to offer the two boys a home and Mako had accepted, not realizing the price. At first he had run small scale criminal operations- taking bets and petty crime, which Bolin would help with as he got older. Then at fifteen, Mako was introduced to new responsibilities- tax collection. He was to show up to recalcitrant shopkeepers and take the money the gang wanted or to make an example of this shopkeeper as an example to the others. He had not wanted to do this, but when he refused, his boss Lightning Bolt Zolt had beaten the shit out of him, and said, "You think you're too good for this? You're a street thug. Nothing is beneath you. Now you either do this like you are supposed to, or I swear that you will be kicked out on the streets and your brother will take your place.
So Mako caved, and accepted the task, because he knows Bolin can't survive working this kind of job. Bolin is too kind. He only sees the family side of gang life, and he has only been asked to do the mildest tasks, transportation of goods and working the gambling tables. Besides, it is Mako's job to take care of Bolin. Bolin shouldn't have to fend for himself.
Finally, after a half an hour of pummeling the shopkeeper, leaving behind many broken bones and bruises, Mako leaves the store and heads for his vehicle. The drive, Haru, asks him, "Aren't you going to burn the place down?"
Mako simply shakes his head and says, "What's the point?"
"To break his spirit. To remind him not to cross the Triads."
"He's here isn't he? And he's going to be here until he dies. That's enough to break anyone's spirit."
Haru simply shakes his head, "You don't have the viciousness for this job."
"Then maybe I shouldn't have gotten it."
Haru doesn't respond. They've had this conversation before. In the end, Mako knows why this job was given to him. Because Mako has talent with firebending, enough to bend lightning, and the boss can't let a talent like that rot at the low end of the totem pole. Instead Haru offers Mako a cigar. Mako smokes it, watching the ashes of his life fall from the butt.