Chapter 2: Introduction Part 2
It was a busy morning in Future Industries as I walked in. To be honest I hadn't slept very well and only got one hour of sleep, but that's a price one has to pay when you're the CEO.
"Ms. Sato your 9 o'clock appointment is here" Spoke the secretary. "And then you have a meeting with your business partners."
(Sigh) "Thanks Nel" Geez one can never take a break. As I walk into my office I don't see anyone in there. I was going to walk back and ask Nel if there was a mistake until I turn around as the door closes, and see the last person I ever thought would be in my office.
I smile as our eyes meet "Well this is a surprise…General Iroh."
Iroh smirked at Asami and began to walk towards her. He put his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him. With that their faces came closer together and their lips met in a passionate kiss. Once they pulled away they both smiled at one another. Asami gestured for him to take a seat.
"What in the world are you doing here? I thought that the united forces would keep you out at sea for another 3 months?"
Iroh just kept on smiling at her. "Well I hope you don't mind my presence. Besides I was really separate to get back to you so my crew and I completed all of our missions."
"Really you completed them all?" Asami asked him with a hand on the hips.
Putting his arms up Iroh surrendered "alright so I pulled a few strings to come back early."
Asami just shook her head at her boyfriend's antics.
Iroh and I have been dating each other for a year now. It all started when I went on a business trip to the Fire Nation. We both bumped into each other and just hit it off so well. We're both honest with each other, well at least one of us are. The thing is I'm not just the CEO of Future Industries; I also work for a secret organization called the Division of Secret Intelligence for Republic City. Our shorter name is S.I.R.C. We are separate from the police and work for R.C. government. While the police capture petty thieves and help people when they've been kidnapped, we go to the extreme. The S.I.R.C. focuses on capturing the most dangerous of criminals, the one who know what goes on around the street gathering info. We call them the whisperers. And then there are the ones who carry out inhumane tasks, we call them the assassins. There are many of them out there, but my organization has gathered a lot of intelligence over the years and has realized that the assassins have some sort of hierarchy. There are some, who call themselves assassins, but their skills are very poor and then you then you have the kings, the leader of the pack, they are known as the Red Lotus.
They kill whoever they want, however they want and without a care in the world for the families that they leave behind to suffer. I know firsthand how it feels since they took my mother away from me. I was only 10; she protected me and was taken away from me since I couldn't protect her. Now I've learned my lesson from the past since joining the S.I.R.C. I've become even stronger. My father kind of shut down and due to his obsessive drinking and becoming a danger to himself and others he was put in prison.
After spending time with Iroh, going through a business meeting and working on signing certain documents, Asami's office hours are over. She returns to her home which is a large mansion and changes out of her business suit into her S.I.R.C. uniform. There's someone honking outside of her home. When she goes to check it out she sees her driver, one of her best friends and partner outside, Bolin.
Opening the door Asami greets Bolin. "Hey partner, how have things with Opal been?"
"Good to see you too lieutenant" Bolin gave Asami a folder with a report of different assassin's wanted at the moment.
"Well Opal and I are actually doing pretty good of course she doesn't like me going out hunting assassins. I mean who would be those guys are dangerous."
Asami only "hmmed" in reply, so focused on the file.
"So since we're on the topic of relationships, what about you and Iroh huh. Have you told him about this part of your job?"
(sigh) "No we- I haven't told him anything about S.I.R.C. Besides if I did tell him about that he would probably freak. It would turn into a disaster and then our relationship would be put on the line." Great now I feel kinda guilty for keeping this a secret. But how can I tell him, I mean Iroh isn't the type of guy who thinks I'm a damsel in distress. In fact he was willing to teach me how to shoot a gun and also a few techniques about martial arts…which I've already learned. Also the S.I.R.C. doesn't get along with the U.R. (United Republic) when we get in their way during internal affairs.
Clearing out from her thoughts when she heard Bolin calling her name, she paid more attention on what he was saying.
"Ohh sorry Bolin"
"He, stuck in your thoughts huh?" Asami nodded her head sheepishly. "Ahhh don't worry about it, I know how you get when something's bothering you lieutenant. But don't get too caught up in it because we got a job to do." Bolin's big smile caused Asami to at least not worry so much about her troubles.
"Thanks Bo."
"ehhh I got your back partner."
The two reached their headquarters just on the border of Republic City and when they walked in the first person to greet them is Chief Lin Beifong.
"Well it's about damn time you two got here."
"Hi to you too chief" they both said together. All Lin replied to them was a grunt.
"So enough playing around, Lieutenant Sato. Do you know what just happened a few hours ago?"
"Mmmm no chief, wait let me guess assassins were involved with it…again."
"Correct, I'm sure the both of you recall a certain street boss by the name of Dino?"
"Yea"
"Well he was killed last night. The police got a call from an anonymous tip saying that a warehouse had just exploded."
"Was there anything at the crime scene that could be recovered?" asked Asami.
"No when we sent someone to go and look into it all they saw were burned bodies, starting from the gate all the way till the very top of the building."
Both Bolin and Asami were in shock since sometimes the assassins would usually let one person live to let them explain the terror the assassins can cause. But recently that hasn't been the case.
"The assassin that's doing this is probably at the top, which makes them one of the Red Lotus. The good thing out of this is that they were the one to make the phone call to the police." Finished speaking Lin.
Bolin just had a blank face as he stared at Lin. "Sooo what you're saying is that all we got is a voice that's it? We can't get facial recognition with that!"
"Well it's my job to feed you information and it's your job to figure out a way to use it."
Bolin was still stressing out until Asami placed a hand on his shoulders.
"Calm down Bo. We could just run the voice scan through our database or the entire R.C. database till we get a match. I'm sure that this assassin has to go out sometime of the day and must talk to someone."
"Hmm that could give us something…alright I approve good idea lieutenant." Said Beifong. "Bolin"
Bolin stood rigid at attention, "umm yes chief."
"You could learn something from her." Those were her final words before going back in her office.
Bolin looked like a sad puppy that was just abandoned by his master for the comfy cat. Asami looked at him and shook her head.
"Come on Bolin let's get to work."
"Yeah" sighed Bolin.
Asami and Bolin walked into the room where everyone was on a computer working and gathering intel.
"Okay people let's get to work, I want to know who this voice belongs to."
It was a couple of days till they actually found a name and a face to go with the voice.
"So what do we have" spoke Asami.
"This is the persons face and the name is Ravaa." Multiple photos were put up on the big screen in the middle of the operation room.
"So this is how our suspect looks like, well it doesn't matter-" Beifong was interrupted by Bolin who pointed something out.
"What's that on one of the photos on her arm it looks like a mark of some kind?"
Asami agreed, "yea your right it looks like a pai sho tile but – spirits that's the Red Lotus mark."
"We actually have a lead on the most notorious group of assassins. The only thing we need to do is infiltrate this Ravaa person's life."
This was a golden opportunity to bring down the Red Lotus and get some sense of closure for the death of my mother.
"Why don't I go undercover to get close to her so that it would then lead me to the rest of the Red Lotus group?"
Immediately after I said that everyone was quite. They were all looking at me as if what I said was shocking to them. Chief Beifong was the first to respond to Asami.
"Are you crazy lieutenant, they're assassins they're masters of deception and manipulation. What makes you think you can trick them with an undercover identity?" Lin wasn't trying to embarrass Asami by questioning her. In fact she cared deeply for the kid since she knew her mom and how her loss affected Asami.
"Listen Chief I'm the best agent in this place, no offense to anyone else in the room. I know I can do this; I've done it before with other assassins, just because this one is now the Red Lotus doesn't make a difference to me. I'm going to take them down no matter what."
The seriousness in Asami's eyes as she stared at Lin head on made her reconsider and agree to Asami's suggestion.
"All right your in. But if something bad goes down we're taking you out." Asami smiled and nodded her head. Spirits she's as stubborn as her mom.
"Do we have anything on Ravaa like maybe a favorite place she likes to hang out at?" asked Bolin.
One of the workers put something up on the big screen. "I don't know if it's her favorite place but every single night she walks into this club called the Triple Threats at the exact same time."
"Perfect, I'll dress up and make it look like I'm interested, then once I'm close enough I'll start gathering intel and melting up with Bolin at least twice a week."
Bolin nodded his head in agreement and so did Beifong. Tonight they execute the plan.