A/N: Like I said, I plan to consistently update this piece. The story is just about starting. Read, enjoy, review (:
Spray slaps Naga's fur as we hurtle down the ice avenue. I'm sweating, and my arms are aching from the bending, but urgency keeps my ice strong. It takes us five minutes to run the entirety of the bay, and by the time we get to Republic City there are countless fingers of smoke curling into the sky. Naga is panting, but I tell her to be a good girl and to keep on moving. With a growl of determination, Naga tenses her hind legs and launches us up into the air, up out of the fishing district towards the school. A circular motion, and the sensation of energy leaving my body – we're flying with an airbending blast.
Up and over we clear the stairs. A sweep of the arms and a column of earth rises to catch us. Naga lands on all fours, stumbles, barks, and keeps on moving. Now we're picking up speed. City residents are diving to get out of the way, and my voice is going hoarse from screaming, "Get out of the way!" The city speeds by us, buildings whizzing past on either sides, and I direct Naga to a sharp left turn, heading north-West on Roku Street before skidding true north as we move onto Liberty Boulevard. That's when I smell it the school before I see it. Charred flesh: A fire bender's footprint on the battlefield.
I slow down as we approach the school's corner, look up at the school's sign. Republic City Academy for Gifted Children. A non-bending school. The hollow pit that had been festering in my stomach since last night threatens to rise up out of my chest. We're almost at the corner, and I dig my heels into her sides and get one last spurt of acceleration. We turn.
The first things I notice are the bodies. There are five of them on the street, all adult-sized, unrecognizable from their burns. I slow Naga to a stop. Get off. Fall to my knees. Moan.
No.
No, no no, no no no.
I fall to all fours and slowly approach the first body. It's an old person - that much is clear from the slightly hump-backed remains. Although, I morbidly note, that may have just been the person contorting in pain at being burnt alive. Nothing to be done for this one. I move on to the next body. Burned alive. Next body, burned alive.
Next body. Burned alive.
Abruptly, I notice that I'm bleeding out of my palms. I unclench my trembling fists. I'm going to fuck whoever did this up. That's for sure. My body is shaking uncontrollably, and I fight the tears of anger that begin to well up and spill down my cheeks. I can hear sirens in the distance, getting closer, so I wait for an ambulance to show up before doing anything else.
"What the hell happened here?"
The ambulance driver's eyes are wide open in horror, and his voice trembles out of a gaping mouth. I have to be confident.
"Some sort of incendiary bomb," I say. I clamp down on my anger, and I leave out my suspicions about fire benders. The ambulance driver has obviously never seen this kind of massacre, so I quickly walk over and put a comforting hand on his shoulder before he loses his shit.
"I know it's ugly, but I need you to do your job. I want you to wait for the police. Let them do their thing and then get the bodies out of here. Can you do that?"
Telling the man to do his job seems to snap him out of his shock, and he nervously tells me he'll do it. Good. I turn my back on him and wait for the metal bending cops to descend from their airship, which is already casting a shadow on us from overhead. They land with metallic clang.
"Avatar Korra! We saw the explosion from the airship. What the hell happened?" says the police officer.
"I have no idea. I saw the explosion from the Island and came here as fast as I could." I answer. The officer eyes the scene and notes the five corpses with a veteran's eye.
"Any living?"
"Not out here. I haven't gone inside yet, I was waiting for the forensics man."
A second officer steps out from behind the first one. He wears the striped sleeves of a licensed forensic blood bender. We shake hands.
"A pleasure to meet you, Avatar Korra. I'm Aguta," he says out of a toothy grin. The man is apparently unperturbed at the sight of the dead bodies. I'll never understand coroners.
"Uh… Same, I suppose. Shame it was under these circumstances."
"Not at all, not at all! I've been looking forward to working with you!" he says. "I'm glad we finally have the opportunity to."
The first police officer – Kokoro, I read from his nametag – and I exchange subtle looks of disgust, but I cut Aguta some slack. Few people have the skills he has, and I need them right now. Kokoro clears his throat.
"Right then. I'll have my men begin examining and recording the scene out here. Aguta, I want you to stay out here and give us a preliminary examination on the corpses before overseeing their transport back to the morgue. You," the officer points to me, "and I will go inside and see if we can piece together what happened."
It's as good a plan as any, and after instructing Akycha to speak with the ambulance driver waiting for him, I join Kokoro inside the Academy's wide double-doors. They're shut tight. Kokoro spreads his arms out, violently miming forcing a door open. With a grating squeal, the doors obey his bending and split open. Darkness inside. The lights have been cut out.
"Avatar," he says, gesturing into the darkness of the school. "After you."
I understand his hint and snap my fingers, lighting a small flame on the tip of my index finger. I step inside. The orange glow from my finger-flame casts long tendrils of shadows all over the walls. We're inside the school's lobby.
"That smell… My god," Kokoro gasps.
I grunt, agreeing with his exclamation. The sickly sweet odor of burnt flesh is stronger in here. We take a few tentative steps into the school's inner hallway, my finger-flame obediently melting away the darkness as we walk. So far, we're alone. No other bodies, no people.
"What do you think happened?" he asks.
"I'm not exactly sure. From the explosion I guessed that somebody set off an incendiary bomb in the school." I say. I point at the school's ceiling, focusing my flame's glow there. "See? There's soot all over ceiling."
"And fire bending by itself doesn't leave soot. You're right, there must have been a bomb."
We exit the hallway and enter what appears to be the school's main cafeteria. The stench of burnt humanity is overpowering. I start making small circular motions with my left hand and bend a continuous gust of wind across Kokoro's nose and mine.
"Thanks," he says.
I increase the intensity of my flame in my right hand, and move it into my palm for a bigger burn. I almost wish I hadn't. I gasp at the sight of the room.
It seems like whoever detonated the incendiary bomb corralled the school's children into the cafeteria and forced them to sit around the device. There, in the center of the cafeteria is a ring of soot surrounding a section of clean floor. The location of the bomb, clearly. What disgusts me is the larger ring of tiny burnt skeletons lying on the floor around the bomb.
"Those sons of bitches," I scream. My words echo in the empty cafeteria, allowing me to hear the rage in my voice.
Kokoro moves closer to the bodies and squats down to get a better look. A brief examination is all he needs to determine they're children.
"All kids," he says, in the steely impersonal tone all homicide detectives must master. "That one," he points at a corpse lying at twelve o'clock from us, "looks like the youngest. Smallest skeleton, and some parts of the skull seem to not have fully fused." He then points to a larger skeleton in the eleven o'clock position, slightly to the left of the first one. "That one seems like the oldest. It looks like the bombers arranged the group in a circle ordered by age. Youngest to oldest, going clockwise from the top."
It's a powerful observation.
"So the dirtbags forced the kids into some sick ceremonial ring," I conclude. I'm reminded of the circular dragon pattern.
"Looks like it."
I look around the cafeteria. Tables are overturned, and melted plastic trays are all over the floor. Here and there, clumps of charred bone peeking out of flesh. The children were eating their breakfast when the attack happened. I tell Kokoro this thought, and he agrees.
"It's only been, what? Maybe forty-five minutes since the explosion? The bombers must have attacked when the children were called to breakfast, say seven o'clock. Then they must have been in here, say, twenty minutes, plenty time to take down any fleeing students or teachers, before detonating the bomb at, maybe seven-twenty, seven-thirty tops."
That sounds right. I had gotten up for breakfast at about the same time, and I know for a fact that school starts at six forty-five for children this age.
"So the people outside… they're not faculty or students?"
"Doubt it. I think they're probably just unlucky." Kokoro says in a grim tone.
I sadly shake my head. Such senseless violence. With a grunt, Kokoro lifts himself out of his squat, rising off the floor.
"Well. Not much else to see here. Let's comb through this first floor and then wait for the team outside," he says.
"Sounds good."
We walk to the large arch that leads into the classrooms beyond the cafeteria. I give the carnage one last fleeting look. I turn, following Kokoro into the school's bowels.
"Avatar Korra!"
Exiting the school after an exhausting search with the police, I hear the now familiar greeting and turn to face it. It's Saikhan.
"Chief, good to see you."
The Chief and I quickly shake hands.
"What have we got here Korra?"
"Some sort of incendiary device was detonated inside the school. The identity of the bombers is unknown at the moment. There are no survivors inside of the school. We count fifty dead so far. Also," I take Saikhan's arm and move him aside, "the bombers had a group of children line up in a circle around the bomb, ordered youngest to oldest. I think there's a connection to that dragon-circle symbol on the handkerchiefs."
Saikhan listens to my summary with a grave expression before speaking.
"Good work Korra."
I shrug.
"That officer of yours, Kokoro. He's a sharp man. Most of those observations were done by him."
The chief grunts at this and nods.
"Alright. I'll have a word with him. In the meantime, I have a message from Tenzin and the council. They want you to report to them in city hall immediately. I'd not keep them waiting."
"Yes sir."
And with that, I whistle for Naga and tear off for City Hall.
"Avatar Korra," greets Tenzin as I walk through the Council Hall's large arching doorway.
"Master Tenzin. Esteemed members of the Council," I answer.
The Fire councilor is the first to speak.
"We have received disturbing news this morning. According to police reports, an incendiary bomb detonated early this morning inside a largely non-bending school. Is this true?"
I quickly retell the morning events. The council members are noticeably affected by my story.
Stroking his beard in thought, Tenzin leans back into his chair.
"It seems like someone is out to murder non-benders in Republic City," he says. "We're aware of the dragon handkerchiefs. Saikhan informed us of them soon after the explosion."
"I definitely think there's a connection. The student ring around the bomb location was highly suggestive of the circular nature of the dragon symbol. It seems to me like there's a new anti-non-bender organization, strongly based in Fire Nation tradition."
The Council voices its agreement.
"Something must be done!" cries the Southern Water Councilor. "We cannot allow this horrible crime to go unpunished!"
More energetic agreements all around. Even Tenzin shows support for immediate action.
"Before you arrived, the Council and I discussed possible responses to this attack" says the Earth Councilor. "We have reached an agreement. We want you to direct the efforts of a special task force created specifically to bring whoever perpetrated this brutal act to justice."
A flood of adrenaline hits my system. An entire task force!
"Could I select my own members?"
Tenzin answers. "You are authorized to do whatever you feel needs to be done in order to accomplish your task. We value the peace too much to allow some militant group to destroy what has taken us years to build."
I bow down, at the waist.
"The Council honors me with their appointment. I'll build my team immediately and contact you for further details once I have established my staff."
From my bowed position, I snap my face up and collectively look straight into the entire Council's eyes.
"I'll catch those sons of bitches. I promise."
And with that, I whirl around and smash the exit doors open. I stride out into the city, and take a deep breath. It smells fresh, clean, and peaceful. Nobody is going to take that away from me. I whistle for Naga. I need to find Bolin and Mako.
A/N: And that's that. I love writing Korra. She's such a badass. Anyway, I hoped you liked it, see you next time! Don't forget to leave a review (: