Chapter One
The street was empty and silent, save for the whistling of the wind as it blew through the small crevices of earth, somehow managing to send a brisk cold air directly into their makeshift hideout. Lin Beifong clenched a tight fist, unwilling to give in to the impulse to shiver even though her fellow metalbenders shook like leaves. She hardened herself, refusing to give up her surveillance of the plain green shack.
She would not show weakness, not at a time like this. They were too close. As she focused her mind on capturing the fugitives, the cop fidgeting beside her decided to finally speak up.
"Um, Lady Beifong, are you sure this is even the place? We've staked it out for nearly three days. It doesn't even look like anyone owns it."
Lin didn't need to turn around to look at the rest of the metalbending police task force, huddling against the back wall of the dugout they bended, to know that they were all nodding their heads in agreement. She gritted her teeth, wanting nothing more than to call them out for high insubordination. Only the threat of the paperwork an action such as that would bring made her hold her tongue from doing so. That's not to say she didn't have a few choice words.
Without looking at him, she spat, "If you know any other Triad safe houses in the surrounding downtown areas that fit the profile, Lieutenant Somu, I would ask that you please inform me of them before you decide to bring my judgment into question."
The bitter tone of her voice slammed into him harder than any of her fists could. Stuttering, and realizing that the future of his career was to be decided on what kind of answer he gave, he stammered, " Of c-course, Lady Beifong, ma'am, a-anything you-"
"I have also made it known multiple times that none of you are to address me as Lady Beifong. I am your superior and you will treat me as such, Lieutenant Somu. Are we clear?" she added curtly.
He was saved from making a bigger fool of himself by the appearance of a large figure, who was turning onto the street via a shortcut through the left alley. The person was stumbling around, leaning from left to right in some dizzy dance, obviously inebriated to all that were watching.
Lin quieted herself, and made a signal for the others to shush as well. She watched, more anxious than she would like to admit, but determined to pull out all the stops for this particular raid. There was no way in this world or the spirit world she was going to botch her own first mission.
They watched expectantly, cursing over ever stray movement the man made to topple into the gutter and pick himself up. After it seemed like a lifetime, he reached the pale yellow door, knocking seven times while counting it out on his fingers. Lin readied herself, tensing her sleepy muscles, winding them up for the almost undoubtedly ensuing battle.
As the door creaked out, revealing a teenage boy, mouth open in a loud yawn. She listened as carefully as she could, trying to make out if there were any secret messages relayed within those few seconds .
"So, how did it go?"
"I'm back in this dump aren't I? How'd ya think it worked?"
The boy's nose scrunched up. "I can guess a little. C'mon, just get in before you draw suspicion."
He pulled the hulking man inside the small green shack, and Lin had to wonder for just a second how many times this same routine had played out. Narrowing her eyes menacingly, she decided that she didn't need to know how long it had played out as long as it ended right now.
Both suspected inhabitants of the crumbling green house neglected to turn and lock the door, leaving it to slowly swing closed. Not that it made it that far.
The moment both men turned to retreat into the house, Lin Beifong raised a hand. Waiting until the door was a few scant inches from being closed, she waved it forward. Go.
Her backup bended the earth around the dugout away, revealing a full squadron of metal bending police. Without pausing for a moment, not even to make sure they were behind her, Lin raced forward, kicking the earth beneath her feet upwards to strike down the door.
It fell with a crash, taking with in the entire door frame. The men fell backwards, faces shocked as they scrambled to get back up. "Wha-what are you doing here?"
Lin didn't give their question the dignity of an answer, whipping her metal wires forward to wrap around the boy's arms, judging him to be the bigger threat in the scenario. He dodged them, and she scowled at his reflexes. She had done well in attacking the younger, more able, body, but it would completely backfire if he was able to hold her off long enough for the drunken one to enter the brawl.
Lin brought up her hands to earthbend him into the ground and quickly capture him, but a whip of water cracking against her knuckles took her out of her stance. Wincing, she leaped back just in time to dodge an ice bullet that was propelled right at her head. Fuming at the thought of such a young boy getting the better of her, she bended a wire out and raced forward, going for the direct assault.
He punched out at her head reflexively, but, expecting that, she ducked and quickly wrapped the metal wire around him. He yelped and pulled back, stupidly thinking that he could snap the wires if he applied enough force. She was quick to bend the wires tighter, binding his arms to his side as he fell backwards.
"Shin!"
She barely had time to spring another wire out before a burst of flame shot out at her head. Cursing, she rolled to the side, careful to keep in drunken man's blind spot. He swayed from foot to foot, the smell of rancid cactus juice practically radiating off of him.
Just great. There was only one gang in Republic City that could get firebenders and waterbenders to cooperate, and that was the Triple Threat Triad. As a result, they were easily one of the more dangerous. It was just her luck that she had to deal with them the first time she actually led her own team. Thankfully, she thought as she eyed his drunken swagger, these guys were obviously not the cream of the crop.
Trying to stabilize himself, he leaned against the wall to get a good look at where she was. She didn't give him the time to. Punching the ground, she earthbended a square of the wall upwards, hitting him solidly against the jaw.
Groaning, he staggered back, giving her the time to leap back and cool down. Breathing heavily, Lin knew she was going to overtax herself soon, but didn't even think of letting off. There was no way she was going to be the weak spot in this mission and she wasn't going to let anybody think of her as such even if it nearly killed her. She would rather collapse of exhaustion than face the patronizing faces of her so called fellow police workers.
There was a great clatter behind her as those same fellow cops finally came into formation, ready to back her up. Lin rolled her eyes, annoyed by how long it took them to do so. Resolving to make them do twenty more practice drills an hour from now on, she straightened and took her bending position, wires out and at the ready.
A unsteady stream of flames launched towards her and she ducked, using her position to bend the wire around his foot. Tugging sharply on it, she forced him to fall backwards, landing beside his fellow gang member. He moaned something about his head before falling silent, presumably concussed.
Lin rose, releasing a breath. The cops around her hung awkwardly, unsure of what to do now. "Um, Lady Beifong, do you have any orders for us?"
Pursing her lips, she asked, "Are you so dim that you can't take the initiative to search the scene without consulting me?"
They broke apart at once, mumbling their apologies as they sifted through the contents of the small, one-roomed shack. Lin sighed, exasperated. It was so hard to find good subordinates that both followed orders and could think for themselves.
Her sharp green eyes roamed around the room, looking for any trace of what they were sent to recover. Walking forward, she kicked one of the metal boxes in the corner, opening it with a loud resounding slam. Bending down to get a better look, she caught the unmistakable sound of a whimper.
Her head snapped up to look at the remaining occupants of the room. "Which one of you did that?"
They stared back, confused. Lieutenant Somu was the only one who was brave enough to speak up. "Did what?"
Lin frowned. So it hadn't come from them. Ignoring the lieutenant without a thought, she moved over to the captured suspects, checking them. She had done her job well, both were completely out cold. There was no way it had come from them, and either way, it was too loud to have come from that far away. So where had it come from?
Any other person would have waved it away, tacking it up to just another unexplainable creak in the wood or the wind whistling through the grainy rock. But not Captain Lin Beifong.
She needed to know for sure, and there was only one way to do that. Releasing a deep breath, she laid a hand on the wall in front of her. It would be hard to do this with her shoes on, but any type of contact should work. She calmed herself, knowing that in order to use her mother's technique she would need complete focus.
"Captain, look!"
Gritting her teeth, she spun on her heel to face the speaker. " What? "
It was Lieutenant Somu. Of course. Gulping, he raised a bundle of metal cords up to her vision. "I found the missing flier wires."
Taking a good look at them, Lin found that they were, in fact, the missing wires. It was a system that had only recently been implemented—metal wires being strung up around the city, allowing the low on personnel police force to use them to get around the city as quickly as they could, making them able to respond to crimes within minutes. It had the potential to be revolutionary, even if they had recently become the target of common hoodlums, unwilling to let their 'turf' be easily navigable by the police. However, she had faith it would work out in the long run.
She was a little more skeptical about the so called 'flying patrol airships'. What earthbender in their right mind would ride in one of those abominations? What was so wrong about doing things the good, old fashioned way, with solid earth dugouts and lots of virtuous patience? The day metal bending police actually used those infernal contraptions was the day she locked herself away in headquarters, interrogating suspects and doing paperwork.
Grunting in response to Somu, Lin turned back and placed her hand on the wall, uncaring of the way he visibly slumped at once again being ignored by the Captain. Trying to regain her focus, she tensed her her fingers against the cold stone, rhythmically tapping a finger against it.
The pulses radiated out from the spot of rock around to the entire room before bouncing back to her, giving her full view of the entire house. After a few seconds, her eyes snapped open and she turned to face her squad, who cowered back at her sudden movement.
Gazing over the bunch, Lin decided to give them a chance to prove themselves. "Tell me, what is wrong in this room?"
They looked over at each other, wondering what had gotten into their Captain's head this time. Again, only Lieutenant Somu answered. "It's a little messy?"
Just realizing exactly how inept these cops were, she pinched the bridge of her nose. "No, Lieutenant Somu, I am not referring to the fact that 'it's a little messy'. Did none of you actually look at the building from the outside?"
This time, all were smart enough to realize staying silent would help them much more in the long run. When there was no response, she decided to educate them. "We surveyed the building from all possible directions, taking into account it's specific parameters. Two doors, one roof, three windows, and-"
Lin pointed towards the uneven intersection between the left most walls. "Four walls. I ask you, honored guardians of Republic City, to think about why exactly this is the only intersection with no corner."
Again, she picked up the sound of the near silent whimper. Kneeling on one knee, she faced the area, pleased to find that the noise was indeed coming from inside it. Punching the ground with a fist, she bended the rocks covering the corner away. They fell away with a loud crack.
Two bright green eyes, wide and fearful, stared back at her own light green ones. For a moment or two she was shocked. A boy. It was just a little boy, barely five or six. His green shirt was dull and faded, presumably from numerous washings.
The same couldn't be said of the mop of curls on his head, a knotted mess so tangled she wasn't sure could be classified as hair. His face was a mass of smudges and cuts, the only clear, clean thing on him being those same bright green eyes, alarmed and apprehensive. He was shaking like a leaf, grubby and dirty, his bottom lip extended as he whimpered once again.
Lin took a minute to understand what was before her. She had expected another triad member, maybe the missing earthbender to fill the Triple Threat Trio, but not even in all the scenarios she had ran through her head had the possibility of a little boy being behind the hidden wall come up. One of the policemen behind her decided to speak up. "'Ey, I know him! He's one of those street kids!"
Street child indeed, if the smell was anything to go by. Now that the rocks had come down, the foul stench came radiating out of the small space. Lin scrunched up her nose, repulsed by it. Exactly how long had the child been in there? Had the Triad members simply put him in there to rot?
Her eyes narrowed dangerously at the thought. The action seemed to scare the boy, and he started to shake. Looking more frightened than ever, he kicked the ground. "Go away!"
The kick sent a chuck of rock from the ground flying upwards, but Lin simply punched out, keeping it from connecting to her face. He'd actually been aiming for it, the little terror. Her annoyance faded as she realized the significance of the action. The child was an earthbender, albeit not a very competent one. Could he have bended the rock wall to separate him from the rest of the room?
Her interest peaked, Lin leaned forward and decided to ask him. "Did you put up the wall, boy?"
He starting blinking fast, trying to keep the tears from spilling out, but not quite succeeding. "G-Go away! Now. We didn't do any'fing, now leave us alone!"
His speech was slurred every few words by the large gap in between his front two teeth, but she was a little more concerned with his use of the word 'we'.
Suspicious, she said, "We?"
There was a movement from behind the boy, from the bundle of cloth she had assumed was a clump of red blankets. A pale face with dull orange eyes peered out from them, obviously feverish and sick.
Lin flinched back, recognizing the symptoms of this particular illness well. There was a collective intake of breath as everyone backed a safe step away. One of the cops, presumably Somu, spoke up. "The Welding Waste."
Yes, the Welding Waste. It was one of the many common sicknesses, one that had spread like wildfire through the poor and dirty slums. There was a time, a few brief weeks ago, when she hadn't been able to walk a block without seeing another person suffering from it. Thankfully, it was not fatal in most cases. Most.
Taking in the bright sheen of sweat on the boy's forehead and his labored breathing, Lin quickly deduced that he most certainly had the fatal form. Strange. She had been under the impression that only the power station workers, those for whom the illness had first cropped up with, had been infected with that form. How had such a small child been exposed to it?
The sick one gave a loud sniff, sending the other boy into a frantic panic. Breaking eye contact with her, he pulled the red blanket tighter around the boy, wiping the sweat from his brow and mumbling words of comfort. "I-It's okay Mako, you just gotta tough it out. C'mon bro, you can do f'is."
Lin felt a sharp stab of pity for the boy. He honestly thought his brother was going to survive. Well, she could say with no amount of untruthfulness that a child that small had no chance against such a debilitating sickness. He would need to have a will of steel to even make it through the fever.
Rising slowly, she let out a deep breath. What a messy situation this had turned into. A simple raid against a Triad hideout, one suspected of being the stash place for the missing flier wires. It should have been easy.
Facing the rest of her squad, Lin asked, "What is the protocol for a situation such as this?"
Lieutenant Somu decided, unwisely, to answer her again. "They seem to be doing fine on their own, I mean, whenever we see these street kids around we usually just leave them alone-"
"You are beginning to test my patience, Lieutenant Somu. I did not ask you what you and your useless, unprofessional co-workers usually do in such situations, I asked you what protocol was. Answer the question posed to you by your superior before going off on such wild tangents." She snarled, disgusted by their lack of duty.
Leaving the children alone? Certainly, she had heard of such practices, especially among the lower ranks of the police force, by those who were too lazy to file out the paperwork to put them in a decent orphanage. But Lin Beifong was not about to neglect her duty, easy way out or no.
Just because she was placed in charge of this mission at the last minute did not mean she would half ass it and leave it be. She snorted. Just think of it. If she hadn't been here, those boys would have probably been left to rot, die in this stink hole. That sick one had hours at the most left already.
"Lieutenant Somu, take note of this. When you find a obviously orphaned street child, you are to take it into custody until you can hand it over to the proper officials."
With a professional nod, Lin bent down again to grab the child. He squirmed and crawled back, gripping onto his sick brother tightly. "No! We didn't do no'fing! Mako said just numbers, no'fing else. I don't wanna go!"
Ticked off, and starting to realize why so many cops simply left the children, Lin said between gritted teeth, "You are coming with me, boy, whether you like it or not."
And with that, she pulled him back by the scruff of his collar, tearing him away from the invalid. He started to wail, a pitiful sound that seemed too loud to come from such a small child. A dull ringing in her ears, Lin picked the boy up like a sack of onion flour, holding him under one arm as he squirmed and kicked out.
"No! No! I wanna stay with Mako! NO!"
Irritated beyond by this point, she snapped at him. "Your brother will be gone soon enough. Can't you see I'm doing you a favor? Do you want to watch him die?"
The words sent him into a new level of hysteria, and he started to cry louder, thick streams of tears rolling down his face. Lin could feel a headache coming on, and she fought the urge to massage her temples.
"Captain, do you want us to hold the street kid?"
She snapped her head to face the offending officer, who was, of course, Lieutenant Somu. She hissed, "What do you take me for? Do you think I am so weak that I would require you to hold a mere child for me?"
"N-no, I never said, I thought-"
"Then I would ask you stop doing that before you hurt yourself." Lin peered dangerously at the nervous man, knowing that his behavior was nothing new. Everybody seemed to think that just because of her title, or her relation to the great Toph Beifong, that she was somehow owed some measure of respect.
She refused all the so called 'benefits' of her background, deciding that she would rather make her own name. She did not need anybody to look after her. She was not weak. She was not dainty. She was not a lady. And she wasn't giving anybody the excuse to think of her as such. If she was going to get any respect or praise from anybody, then she would earn it.
And with that, Lin tightened her grip on the squalling brat, and turned to leave the wretched house.
She went no further than a few steps before a mass of red and orange raced out before her. Surprised, she stumbled and barely stopped herself from falling face forward. She fought the rising flush, determined not to show weakness. There went her exit.
Lin looked down at the small object that was the cause of her embarrassment. Her face fell as she recognized it. A fire ferret. It looked like nothing more than a small baby, barely old enough to have the distinctive red and white markings. The child called out to it, finally ceasing in his cries. "Pabu!"
So it was his? How...cute. Not meaning the thought at all, Lin stared disgusted at the vermin. "Shoo! Go on!"
She kicked out a foot, barely connecting to the fast creature. Peering up at her, it squeaked loudly.
"Pabu Pabu Pabu! C'mon, attack! Bite 'er! Bite 'er!"
What a distinctive sense of humor this child had.
Rolling her eyes, she stepped forward trying, and missing, to hit the thing. As she walked to the door it trailed beyond her like a baby duck, staring up at the little boy she held under her arm, who seemed to be trying to get the creature to maul her.
"C'mon Pabu, we trained this trick a million times! The Raging Lion-Turtle! Just jump up and bite 'er!"
Lin turned the child over, hoping that if he was upside down he would be too disorientated to say anything more. It worked, but not the way she would have hoped.
Upon finding he couldn't even see his pet anymore, his tears started up anew, shaking his very frame with the force of his cries. "Pa-pabu! Ma-Mako, help me! M-M-Mako, puh-please!"
Knowing that that the boy's sick brother wouldn't be responding anytime soon, Lin marched out of the small shack, leaving the other cops to pick up the Triad members, simply focused on getting as far away from the wretched place as possible.
So focused, in fact, that she didn't even think to look back at the child she'd just left for dead, that didn't see his feverish eyes flicker open, didn't see the way he extended a trembling hand after his wailing brother, didn't hear his weak, desperate gasp.
"B-Bo."