Wow, guys I was completely overwhelmed by the response I got from the last chapter. It gives me the warm and fuzzies when I get such positive feedback from you guys! So I've decided to release the next chapter a few days early. Think of it as a New Year's gift!

Someone asked if other ships would be in this story. I will say yes to an extent, they won't have their own scenes or anything, the ones they do have will be shared with Mako since he's the centric character. But Bopal and Korrasami will be worked into the story, later chapter though.

I am also currently working on a later chapter where Mako and Rika go on a double date with Korra and Asami (I love awkward situations).

Anyways, I hope not to disappoint…here we go!

Souls on Fire: Ignite

Mako yawned as he walked into the locker room with his gym bag. He didn't have to start working for another two hours, but he thought this would be the perfect time to go to the gym and get a little exercise in.

While he hated being up before the sun, he knew that the morning was the opportune time to go to the Department's gym because it was usually empty.

After he dropped his bag on the bench with a thud, he started peeling off his clothes. He quietly shrugged off his jacket, undershirt, gloves, and pants before slipping on a skintight dark red running shirt and black shorts. He laced up with red running shoes and dragged his feet out of the locker room and into the gym.

There was only one other person in the room besides Mako and she was currently beating up a punching bag with her fists and feet.

Mako focused in on her and recognized her as Rika, the police officer whose cover he had accidently blown in a large scale undercover operation that was attempting to undermine one of the biggest Triads in the city.

To say they got off on the wrong foot would be an understatement.

And to make matters worse, Chief Beifong had decided to make Mako and Rika partners in the attempt to bring down the triad.

Rika had called him 'an incompetent amateur who couldn't tell the difference between a thug and a street bum'.

Mako had been highly offended by that remark; He was part of Team Avatar for Spirit's sake. He had helped Korra take down Amon, Unalaq, Zaheer and his Red Lotus, as well as Kuvira.

Sure Rika had her military background; 3 of which was spent in the Special Forces branch…where the military sent the best of the best, but he had seen his own fair share of battles and was far from being 'an amateur' as she had so rudely claimed.

Mako stepped forward and got a closer look at her as she panted and threw punches at the dummy bag that kept bouncing right back at her.

She was in black yoga pants and a maroon sports bra…that was it.

Her hair which she usually kept in a loose side braid was tied tightly at the top of her head in a bun.

Mako wasn't aware that he was staring at her, but when she delivered a roundhouse kick to the head of the dummy she turned around to face him.

She stood with her hands on her hips and cocked an eyebrow at him, "You know most guys who stare at me at least try to be discreet about it."

Mako's mind froze up, he opened his mouth to mutter an excuse or an apology or ANYTHING! But yet, he just stood there, with his mouth open gawking like an idiot.

He pointed a finger at her as she began to walk towards him, finally getting out of his stupor he became defensive, "Don't be ridiculous. I wasn't staring."

"Hey whatever you say hot shot." Rika laughed as she sauntered into the ladies locker room.

Mako rolled his eyes before he began to run some laps around the track.

oOoOo

An hour later, Mako was in the middle of his cold shower when he heard a familiar voice from outside the stall.

"Chief Beifong has asked that I bring you up to speed…"

Mako yelped in surprise and almost subconsciously caused the shower water to boil. He stuck his soap studded hair out of the stall, while carefully keeping the curtain around his waist.

Rika was sitting there on the bench outside the stall nonchalantly, as if it was perfectly acceptable to be sitting there in the men's locker room waiting for him as he showered…alone.

"You've got a little soap…" Rika gestured to his temple and ear and made a rubbing motion.

Mako couldn't say anything, and just bit his lip in frustration. He then flicked the curtain shut again and proceeded to finish his once relaxing shower.

"So anyways," Rika spoke up again trying to block out the loud pelting of the water, "As I was saying before…the Red Monsoon Triad is a carefully organized power structure."

Mako ripped the shower curtain open again, still keeping it at a safe angle. "Can this wait until I'm done?"

"Oh sure, by all means…" Rika plastered a fake smile to her face as she snapped her case file closed and threw it onto the bench beside her. She proceeded to cross her legs and rest her wrists on one knee.

As soon as he was finished he flipped the pipes off and ran a hand through his moppy hair causing it to slick back. He went to reach for his towel that he usually left dangling by the hook until he remembered that he left it in his locker which was a few stalls down…close to where Rika was currently sitting.

He took a deep breath and pried the curtain open one last time.

"Finished?" Rika asked curiously as she looked up from the spot on the floor she was staring at.

"Yes…but," Mako drawled on as he motioned to his locker, "My towel is in locker 068…its open, so could you do me a favor and grab it?"

Rika nodded and hopped up from where she was sitting and hopped over the bench separating the showers from the lockers. She ran her hand along the lockers counting down 066…067…068.

She pried open Mako's locker and found his clean towel hanging from its hook. As she grabbed it she saw a few black and white photos taped to the inside of the locker.

One was a family photo of who she could only assume was Mako, his brother, and his parents. The other had a young girl smiling…Rika recognized her as the Avatar.

She wanted to say something, but felt as if it wasn't her place. Rika was a very straight forward individual. If she had something to say, she would say it. She liked to intentionally push people's buttons. She was good at finding out what made a person tick…and yet she knew when enough was enough, and she knew when not to cross an invisible boundary.

Now was one of those times. With rumors circulating about the Avatar and the Sato Industries heiress. Rika has a gut feeling that Mako and the Avatar had a history. One that he hid behind his gruff exterior. Did she want to pry it out of him? Yes.

Was she going to? No. She would wait for him to tell her.

So without further word, she tossed the towel to the waiting Mako and leaned against the lockers with her arms crossed waiting for him to dry off.

She drummed a rhythm against her arm with her fingers as she heard the scraping of towel against skin. Moments later Mako came out with the towel around his waist, little droplets of water falling off of his black hair.

"What?" Rika asked as Mako stood there looking at her as if he wanted to ask her something.

Mako stuck his finger in the air and made a spinning motion with it, telling her to turn around so he could get dressed in privacy. He knew it would be pointless to tell her to leave…so he just settled on getting his clothes on as quickly as he could while his back was turned.

As soon as Rika heard a zipper being secured she decided it was safe to turn around. As soon as she did her eyesight focused on the web of bright pink scars that decorated Mako's right arm.

"Oh my god!" Rika cried out in shock as she gripped Mako's forearm lightly and looked at the marred skin, "What happened to you?"

Mako hissed and withdrew his arm quickly, "Sorry…it's still really tender."

"Anyways…It's a long story," Mako shrugged, "Basically I was exerting a lot of lightning and couldn't maintain it.

"You can generate lightning?" Rika asked as if she didn't believe him.

"Yeah…why, can't you?" Mako asked.

She shook her head, she was just short of being a firebending master…and yet whenever she attempted lightning, it simply blew up in her face.

"Guess I'm not that much of an amateur after all." Mako said sarcastically as he stuck his arms through his undershirt and pulled it down over his chest.

"Look, I'm not going to apologize for my behavior," Rika said pointing her finger at him, "You did blow my cover…but I guess I was a little out of line."

Mako smiled, satisfaction clear in his features.

"Now hurry up…we have work to do." She said as she walked out of the locker room, leaving him to finish tying his boots.

oOoOo

"You call this work?" Mako asked as they sat at the table in the restaurant. Rika had her head buried in the menu. Mako just sat there with his arm extended over the backrest of the booth they were occupying.

"Hey scoping out the scene is one of the more important parts of undercover work. I've got to find a way to salvage my cover, this is one of the prime locations that the Red Monsoon Triad members come to."

"Won't they be suspicious if they see you out of style?" Mako motioned to her outfit. When she was undercover with the Triad she was wearing a dark blue peacoat with a black turtle neck and white skintight pants.

Today she was in charcoal grey cargo pants, combat boots, a maroon tanktop, and a sleeveless black leather jacket. Not to mention that her pair of dog tags were jingling as they dangled at her chest.

Rika shook her head as she put the menu down, "I was only initiated into the Triad a couple of weeks ago. Members have to go through a series of Trials before they become full-fledged members. The only ones who deal with the initiates is their specific recruiter…mine of which happens to be sitting comfortably behind metal bars right now."

"So the Triad could walk in right now and not know who you are?" Mako asked.

Rika nodded, "They would think I'm just a pretty girl with a nice a-"

"Special today is crab filled dumplings with a side of noodles," The waiter cut her off as he approached their table and got ready to take their orders, "My name is Po…you two know what you want?"

Rika handed him her menu and promptly ordered a plate of ghost pepper flavored wings. Mako kept it simple and stuck to the dumplings.

"You know that ghost peppers have sent people to the hospital before right?" Mako asked her.

"I like it hot…guess my fire nation roots are bleeding through." Rika simply shrugged.

"Speaking of which, what is your nationality anyways. If you don't mind my asking." Mako asked. He had been meaning to ask her. She totally pulled off the look of girl next door from the Water Tribe, and yet she was an adamantly skilled blue eyed firebender.

"My grandfather was from the fire nation, and after Aang and Zuko ended the war he fell in love with my Grandmother who was from the Northern Water Tribe and he moved there to be with her. They had one son Kovvu, who is my Father, who in turn married his childhood sweetheart Raahna, who is my mom. They had four children Ahna, Ellysia, Marko, and me."

Mako followed as she told him about her family tree. "Both my parents are waterbenders. My two sisters and my brother are waterbenders…so you can imagine their surprise when little Marika set the curtains on fire when she was 5."

"My granddad died before we found out I was a firebender, so I was kind of alone." She said sadly as she stared at her hands, "I've always been something of a black sheep when it comes to my family."

"Well in my personal opinion, fire beats water anyway." Mako said trying to lighten the mood.

Rika smirked and immediately dropped her slightly depressed demeanor.

They sat their quietly until their food came, in which Rika decided to re-break the ice. "So while we're on the subject…what's your story?"

Mako swallowed his dumpling before he told her the short version, "Me and my little brother were orphaned when we were kids. I grew up on the streets. Met the Avatar a few years ago, she's a really good friend and I've helped her save the world several times."

"That's quite the resume…" Rika said nodding as if she were impressed. "I served in the United Forces for 5 years, 3 of which were when I was in Special Ops. And you have probably seen more action than I have."

Their conversation was cut short when the restaurant doors opened and a man in his late 20's rolled in with two girls under each arm. He was dressed in dark blue, and Rika noticed the tip of a tattoo at the base of his neck which was the Red Monsoon's calling card.

Next thing they knew, the drunken guy got a good look at Rika and decided to make himself worth her while.

"Hey, what's a pretty thing like you…" The triad member slurred as he leaned into Rika, his breath reeking of alcohol, "doing with a loser like this?"

He looked at Mako as if he were a bug on the bottom of his shoe. Mako got super defensive and he began to stand up as he pushed the sleeve on his arm up farther.

Rika gave him a death glare though, this guy was just a lackey…and that usually meant there was a higher up somewhere close by.

She quickly scanned the restaurant until she laid her eyes on a man sitting at the back table with an expensive blue suit on, he had three burly body guards with him.

Bingo.

Rika had just found her way back into the fold all she had to do was put on a show for the Triad gang member.

As Mako clenched his fists ready to engage this drunken guy, Rika stood up and beat Mako to it.

It all happened in slow motion for Mako; Rika first stepped on the drunks's foot which caused him to howl and pain and lean forward to relieve pressure, Rika then saw and opening and crouched down putting him in a backwards chokehold, before she rolled herself back taking the bigger guy with her.

The drunk slammed on his back so loudly the floorboards cracked. As Rika pounced back on her feet, she assumed an offensive position with her hands clenched out in front of her and one foot on the guy's throat.

"This LOSER…happens to be boyfriend. So the next time you feel like chasing a bit of tail how about you go for someone a little more scantily clad than I."

The drunk choked until Rika made her exit with Mako following closely behind after he dropped a few yuons on the table to pay the bill.

He followed Rika outside where she was breathing heavily.

"I take it that was all part of the plan?" Mako asked in confusion as he followed her to a back alley.

Rika nodded as she paused in the alley so she had an obstructed view of the door. She was hoping she played her cards right, but if she did that high up triad member might have a word or two to say to her.

And just as she thought. A few moments later the guy rolled out in his blue suit, clutching his cane as he searched the area for her.

"Okay," Rika said as she turned around to face Mako. "I'm about to do something extremely personal and I don't want you to freak out, okay?"

"What do you mean pers-" he was cut off as Rika grabbed him by his collar with one hand and the back of his head with the other. Before he could realize what she was doing she backed them up into the stone wall behind them and pulled his face close to hers, where she met him half way with a searing hot kiss.

Fire+Fire= Super Hot!

Anyways, let me know what you think! Next chapter will deal with the fall of the Triad, and then enters Korra, Asami, and Bolin...let the awkwardness ensue!