When he came too, the first thing he noticed was that his hands were bound. His head was killing him and, wherever he was, it was very cold.

He looked to his left and noticed that his other fellow officers (his friends,he thought, his friends) were next to him in a row, all lined up and bound. All of them were unconscious.

He moved around a bit, trying to feel the earth underneath him. He could still feel it, solid and sturdy, underneath his legs. They hadn't taken it yet.

When he was 11 and just learning the fundamentals of earthbending, his sifu had told him something that he kept in his heart throughout his police training and through his active service.

"Earthbending" his sifu said, "is about strong, study movements. Everything about it is precise, solid, and absolute. But the key to retaining this movement is patience. The fire and water elements are fast strikes and changeable angles. Earth is not. All movements must be done without rush. Knowing patience is knowing earthbending. Know patience and you will achieve."

A movement in front of him broke him out of his stupor. A group of equalists, silent and unwavering, were walking towards them. Behind them, the man he and his fellow officers had been chasing for years, stood. Amon.

When he was a rookie, young and wide-eyed, he fell below the earth underneath a large building. He had been chasing an armed assailant when something exploded beneath him, leaving him covered by ash and stone. He couldn't see, he couldn't move, and he couldn't bend his way out. He didn't know how long he was there and he wasn't even sure if anyone knew where he was. He felt scared, terrified. And just when he was about to give up hope, his world was surrounded in light.

"You alright, private?" she had said, her arms griping his tightly as he saw officers moving rubble around.

"I..I thought I was a goner" he said tightly, his voice harsh and rough from lack of use.

"Did you really think we were going to leave you?" she almost sounded insulted by the very thought, as she lifted up from the pile he was sitting on, dusting off his uniform.

"Of..of course not, Captain Lin! I…I was just—"

"Relax, Private" Captain Lin said leading him along out of the hole he had fallen into. As he reached the outside and saw the sky for the first time in what felt like days, he felt his whole being feel lighter, softer.

Captain Lin turned to him, checking him over for injuries and damages. As she brought him towards the medical tent, her hand gripped his shoulder lightly. "Always know, Private" she said as he sat down, looking down at him, her usually hard look, turning soft, "that no matter what, despite how things might seem, we…I will always come. Do you understand?"

And as he looked up at her, he said yes, because at that moment, after that time spent alone in the ground, he really, truly, believed her.

Hands pulled him up from his seated position. He was being brought to the front of the line.

"Patience" his sifu had said. "Patience and you will achieve"

"I will always come" his Captain, his Chief, his friend had told him.

So when Officer Song felt the hand touch his forehead and heard the laughter of the equalist around him, he closed his eyes and waited. Because no matter how dire this situation seemed, he knew, in his heart, that Lin was coming.

AN:idk where this came from. I don't even really like it, but… the people i felt the worse for in this ep were the metalbending police. Officer Song is being used because hes the only name we got.