Book 2: Spirits
Sorry this took so long to get out! I've been hella busy! Just start yelling at me if I do this again, and I'll hopefully hear it. We will yet again be following Lin and her new roommate and girlfriend Emilia as they go through Book 2 with explosions and tension. Will they make it through a worldwide damaging spirit war while also maintaining a strong relationship? Let's find out!
"Mako caught another one!"
Emi stepped into Lin's office without knocking like she usually did. Since they had moved in together and everyone knew they were a thing, they didn't bother with the police greeting rituals or rules. When they had gotten back from the South Pole, Tenzin helped Lin and Emi regain their jobs right where they left them except now Emi was second in command after Saikhan resigned.
Emi placed Mako's arrest report on Lin's desk before Lin spoke.
"That kid is on a roll," Lin said, picking up the report and flipping through it, "I would have never thought that he would be such a good officer with his criminal record, but listening to you usually makes something amazing happen."
"Well I guess I have that effect on people," Emi chuckled as she sat down in the chair across from Lin's desk. She had been the one to offer Mako a job as a B-Cop after she had gotten her job back. She had been impressed with Mako's detective skills when they were looking for Korra, and she knew he would make a great detective someday if he kept at it.
"I wish I had the same effect on our new President however," Emi grumbled with anger, "I mean who walks into the newly instated Chief of Police's office, threatens that he will fire her if she makes one mistake, and then flirts with her? It's absolutely insane."
"Well he was elected by our citizens," Lin said with a sigh, "We're going to have to deal with him for now."
"I'd make a better President than him," Emi continued to rant, "I would fill this city with sunshine and rainbows without even lifting my finger."
"I don't doubt it," Lin chuckled at Emi pouting, "If you can fill a grumpy, old lady like me with happiness, you could make the whole world glow."
"Stop saying the word 'grumpy' or 'old' when referencing yourself," Emi scowlded, "It just evaporates your confidence, and I hate seeing you depressed."
"Fine," Lin said as she looked back down at her paperwork that littered her desk, "And I meant to tell you sooner, but we have a new case down by the docks. Apparently there was a report of a firebender threatening boat owners to give him their boats and the insurance that comes with them. If you want to go on a stakeout tonight with Akira or Song or someone like that, you could get some intel on it. I know you like stakehouts, so I saved it for you."
Lin handed Emi the case file, and she greedily took it.
"Thank you!" She said as she started to look through the case file, but then looked up at Lin with a annoyed expression, "Will I have to report to Lu and Gang about this?"
"Goodness no," Lin said, "You're second in command. You report directly to me."
"Oh thank goodness," Emi said with a breath of relief, "I want to stay as far away from those knuckleheads as I can."
Lin just shook her head.
"Have fun," she said with a smile.
"Love you," Emi said before giving Lin a kiss on the cheek over her desk and then stepping out of her office.
"Love you too," Lin said back before going back to her paperwork.
"Oh no," Lin said as she looked down at the morning newspaper.
"What is is?" Emi yawned as she stretched her back out. It was early in the morning, and the sun hadn't even come up. This was Lin and Emi's ritual every morning being the heads of Republic City's security. They were in the living room of their condo they had gotten 5 months earlier, and they were in their pajamas. They had just woken up.
"Korra has just caused a Civil War between the Northern and Southern Water Tribes," Lin said without any emotion, almost like she had guessed the Avatar would do something like this.
"What?! Emi cried, taking the newspaper from Lin. The headline was 'Civil War Erupts between North and South: Is the Avatar Really Responsible?'.
"I read the entire article," Lin said, crossing her arms over her chest, "It does seem like Korra is slightly responsibly, and even better, the whole city will see this article."
"How many of our citizens are from the poles," Emi asked, getting ready for the answer.
"About 37%," Lin answered and sighed with annoyance.
"Great," Emi said sarcastically, "Now we have to get ready for the protests and rallies."
"Let's get going," Lin said as she followed Emi into their bedroom to get changed.
After they had gotten their uniforms on, the two metalbent their way onto the electricity cables and made their way over to the station (which was thankfully only a couple blocks away). Lin and Emi stayed on guard the entire day, waiting for a call to come in about possible protests. Emi stayed at her desk in the room just outside of Lin's office where all the detective's desks were. Emi kept checking her desk phone for new voicemails or calls about anything violent. She only looked up from her work one time to glare at Lu and Gang who were laughing too loud. Lin was in her office also waiting for any information while she filed her paperwork for the day. They got nothing all morning until Lin got a call just after noon.
"This is Chief Beifong of the Republic City Police Department," Lin said into the phone after she picked it up.
"Listen Beifong," It was President Raiko, "I've gotten word from the Southern Water Tribe Cultural Center about a supposed peaceful march happening outside their center. I need you and your best officers there tonight to keep it under control. The last thing I need is some protesters ruining my time in office."
"We'll be there, sir," Lin responded through the phone, but couldn't help rolling her eyes at Raiko's selfishness.
"You better, for your sake," Raiko said before he aggressively hung up the phone. Lin rolled her eyes again. Raiko was trying to intimidate her with his power, but Lin wasn't moved. Lin guessed that he was sexist, and probably thought she couldn't handle the job as Chief. Well, she'd show him how capable she was.
Lin heard a knock on her door, and gave the person knocking her permission to enter. Lin's mood darkened when she saw it was Lu and Gang that came into her office.
"Some officers near the docks caught the Triad Crime Lords that Captain Emilia reported that the firebender was selling his stolen boats to," Lu said as he smoothed out his mustache, "We were going to go check it out."
"I'm coming with you," Lin said, standing up from behind her desk, "I need to stretch my legs."
Emi had watched as Lu and Gang had entered her girlfriend's office, and watched now as Lin came out of her office with Lu and Gang trailing behind her.
"Em," Lin called to her second in command as she headed out of the room, "Come with us."
Emi was more than happy to get out from behind her desk. She caught up with Lin and walked alongside her with Lu and Gang behind them.
"What's up Chief," Emi asked, happy to be in Lin's presence again.
"Some officers caught the Crime Lords you were talking about down by the docks," Lin told her as they exited the station, "We needed to bring a truck for them to use to take the criminals to prison where they belong."
"Sounds like fun," Emi said as she skipped down the steps to a Police Truck that was already parked outside. Emi got into the driver's seat before Lin could open the door.
"I'm driving," Emi said with a smirk, "I'll be your butler for the day."
"That's nothing new," Lin smiled as she shook her head and got into the passenger's seat. This reminded Lin about the time when she had gotten rambed by one of the Triple Treat Triad's fancy cars, and Emi had massaged her back for days afterwards.
With Lu and Gang in the back seat, Emi started driving towards the docks.
"Also," Lin spoke to Emi as they drove past Republic City's square and market area, "I got a call from Raiko. He said that there is going to be a peaceful march tonight at the Southern Water Tribe Cultural Center, and that he wants us to be there to keep it safe."
"Wow," Emi responded as she stopped at a red light, "That doesn't sound like Raiko at all. Putting the city before himself."
"He ended the call saying he didn't want the protest to ruin his time in office."
That makes more sense," Emi said as she pulled up to the docks. There were two waterbending officers there with three handcuffed men in blue, expensive suits on the ground. There was also a very expensive, pretty wrecked up Satomobile on its side close by.
Lu and Gang opened up the backdoor to the truck, and the officers hauled the Crime Lords into it. Emi and Lin hoped out of the truck, and Emi almost laughed when she saw who was at the far end of the nearest dock and was getting out of a Varrick Industries boat. Emi nudged Lin with her elbow, and pointed to the dock.
"Oh great," Lin said sarcastically as she and Emi walked down the dock to greet the young Avatar.
"Welcome home Avatar," Lin said with no emotion, "Thanks for starting a war."
"I didn't start a war," Korra argued, immediately going on the defensive, "Well… I did… but it's more complicated than you're making it seem."
Lin chose to ignore Korra's frantic attempts to clear her name, and instead focused on Mako who was standing next to Korra, his girlfriend.
"Mako, I want you back on the beat," Lin told him, "There's going to be a Southern Water Tribe peace march tonight, and I need you there to make sure things don't get out of hand."
"I'm all yours," Mako told the Chief before Korra spoke.
"I'll go too," she said, making Emi shake her head, "The people of the South need to see that the Avatar is on their side in the fight against the Northern invaders."
"Great," Lin said sarcastically as she rolled her eyes for the third time that day, "That should calm them down."
Lin turned and started walking down the dock again. Emi stayed back for a minute.
"Nice to see you guys again," she said, "I'm sorry about what's happening in the South, but Korra getting caught up in all of this will only make it worse. I know everything is more complicated than it seems, but the one thing we police officers hear when we hear war is violence. It's just more work to keep the City safe now that we've got more conflict. Please think about what you do before you do it."
"Yeah Korra," Mako agreed with Emi, "Maybe you should sit this out."
"What," Korra turned to Mako in disbelief.
"I just think having you there blantingly supporting one side will only make things worse," Mako continued, "You could at least try to seem neutral."
"I'm not neutral," Korra said defensively, "The North invaded my home. The only reason I'm here is to get the Republic to send troops to help the South."
"Well you guys have fun with President Raiko," Emi said with annoyance, "He doesn't tend to see anyone else's reasoning. He's very stubborn and selfish."
Emi looked over Mako and Korra's shoulder to see Asami, Bolin, Zhu Lee (Varrick's assistant), and Varrick himself.
"Welcome back to Republic City, Mr. Varrick," Emilia said to the inventor, "I hope your stay here this time won't be as eventful as it was last time."
"Why thank you," Varrick said with his goofy smile, "And speaking of past events, did you happen to find my gold, diamond encrusted cufflinks yet?"
"We did," Emi answered, "They're at the Police Station as we speak. You can come by anytime to claim them."
"Fantastic!" Varrick said, giving Emi's hand a strong shake that almost knocked her off her feet, "I like you. It's so hard to come by a beautiful, intelligent, and kind police officer these days."
"I don't know about that," Emi said, having met quite a few police officers that fit that description, "But I will take your compliment nonetheless."
"Great," Varrick said, his smile never fading, "I'll come by the station within the week to collect my cufflinks."
"Alright then," Emi said as she turned to leave, "See you guys around."
Team Avatar waved to her as Emi walked back down the dock to where Lin was waiting for her. The truck was gone which made Emi raise an eyebrow.
"Where did the truck go?" Emi asked Lin.
"I sent it back to the Police Station," Lin said with a smile, "Let's walk over to the Cultural Center. I haven't seen you all day."