Kid A
Chapter 2: Kid A
Authors Note: Thank you Anonymous Rex, Anne, Blighted, Korrasami Trouble, inomibil, Guest, DragonRider97, Aquamarine99, and Guest for the feedback. All the positivity has been amazing, guys. I really, truly appreciate it! Sorry if this was a bit late. Things are getting a little bit hectic, with school coming up and what not. Happy reading!
A murder was an easy thing to get away with, if you weren't an idiot. However, as it was, most killers were idiots. They did not plan their deed well enough. As a result, they were easily introduced to the justice system. Even the smallest loose end could lead to the road of failure.
And in this case, failure was not an option. The professor's demise had been carefully calculated. Plotted. Every second, every minuscule detail, had all been accounted for. Nothing could go wrong.
The professor would be alone in her classroom, preparing for her upcoming class. She would be sitting at her desk, organizing her syllabus. She would be looking over the class list and the coursework, reviewing how everything would go. She would be casual about it. After all, there was an entire hour before the class was scheduled to start.
And at this particular time, she was one of the few professors in the building not teaching a class at this time. There was a ten minute window where this area of the building would be quite. Empty. Student and faculty alike would be held up in their classes, unaware of the coming danger. It was the perfect moment to strike.
The assailant slipped into the professor's classroom near the beginning of this window. The professor looked up from her desk, smiling at the familiar face. The friendly face. Her soon-to-be assailant smiled back.
"I didn't expect to see you here," the professor said, "Is there something I can help you with?"
"I just had a question," the assailant would reply, approaching their target
"Well, of course!" the professor would say, standing up from her desk. The prey was approaching the predator.
Then they would talk. The assailant would converse, as if everything was perfectly normal. Waiting for the perfect second to strike. The professor would go along with the conversation, suspecting nothing. They two would talk, like too old friends.
And then the assailant would strike. Their right hand covering the professor's mouth, muffling her screams, while their left hand produced a knife. They plunged it into the professor's stomach, and lowered the woman onto the ground. There, they would wait. Slowly, patiently, while the professor squirmed under their grasp. Counting the seconds, while the life drained from their victim.
Finally, the time of their exit came. The assailant stood up, leaving the soon-to-be-deceased professor on the ground. A smile crept on their face. Everything was going perfectly.
They would take that opportunity to change clothing. After all, bloody clothes tended to be a dead give-away to murder.
After changing their clothes, they would stuff the dirty clothes in their bag. A green, leather saddlebag. The finest money could buy. It had been lined with plastic to prevent any potential stains. It was a nice bag, after all. Didn't want to ruin it by carelessly throwing bloody garments in it. After carefully packing away the clothing, they would carefully stuff away the knife into the mix, carefully placing it between the clothing.
And with a satisfied smile, the assailant would leave the room. They would run quietly down the hall, turning the corner. They would slow their pace to a walk, and join in the sea of students freshly released from their classes.
To say things became hectic would have been an understatement.
Minutes after they had found the body of their would-be professor, they were surrounded by a large assortment of people. Unsettled students, unsettled faculty. They were soon shoed away from the body by some of the teachers attempting to gain some sort of control of the situation. They stood in the hallway, a small distance away from the scene, waiting for the police.
Korra found her senses were on high alert. Was this a random murder, or were her targets involved? If this was connected to the Red Lotus, could their be other targets?
"I...I can't believe this is really happening," Asami said, her voice unstabled. Korra couldn't help but notice that the girl's hand was clenched in a fist, shaking ever-so-slightly.
"You're shaking," Korra observed. Asami looked up, meeting her eyes. She nodded.
"I...I just..." she stuttered. She looked away, trying to find the right words, "I've never seen someone dead before."
"Me neither," Korra responded. She looked into the crowd of people. She felt like she should join the sea, wondering if it would do her any good to investigate. The body felt like it had been dead for a while before they had found it, maybe an hour? Whoever the culprit was, was most away from the scene by now, trying to get some distance between them and the crime.
But maybe they were in that crowd. Perhaps they wanted to get a sense of their handywork, and the mayhem they caused. Her instincts told her the killer was close. However, she was told to stay put until the police showed up.
She heard heavy breaths from next to her. Korra looked over to Asami, who was starting to look a ghostly pale. Korra felt like she shouldn't just leave her alone like this. Right now, the best thing to do would to be to comfort her.
"At least you've never seen a body before this," Korra said, "People die all the time. The fact that you've only seen this one body is lucky."
Asami looked to Korra, with a facial expression she couldn't read. Did she say the wrong thing?
"Did that not help?" Korra asked.
"Oh, no...it's just," Asami said, "You're so calm. It's weird."
"Oh," Korra said.
"Not that being calm is a bad thing," Asami continued, "I just don't understand it."
"I'm sorry," Korra said, "Would not being calm make you feel better?"
And with that statement, came the laugh Korra had grown to enjoy. Though it was softer. More subdued.
"No," she shook her head, "You being calm is a good thing."
"I'm glad," Korra said. She gave Asami a soft smile.
Korra heard a pair of sharp footsteps approaching them. She turned her head to see a familiar scarred face. Lin Bei Fong was approaching the two girls, and she looked more annoyed then she did the last time Korra had met her.
"I'm here to take your statements," she said, with harshness in her voice. She pointed to Korra, "You first."
Korra looked back to Asami, then to Lin. She still felt leaving Asami by herself would be a bad thing. Korra opened her mouth to object
"Can you take them together?" Asami asked. Lin looked to her, and shook her head.
"Sorry kid. It's protocol," Lin said, before escorting Korra away.
Lin had been against this project from the start. She had always been somewhat skeptical of messing with the natural order of things. If her mother taught her one thing, it was that all science forms of science, no matter how well intended, would eventually be used for bad things. People would manipulate and distort it, drain every ounce of purity from it, until it was nothing but a weapon for evil.
And that was exactly what this project was becoming. Subject Kid A, as she was known, was nothing more than a mindless weapon. Tenzin insisted that she was more human than not. That her human roots lay beneath the depths of her programming. That was bullshit. Her entire purpose at that school was to seek out Red Lotus members, and eliminate them. She was their executioner, and that was as far from human as one could get.
And then the meeting, where Tenzin presented her. It was obvious she had no regard for their lives. If Tenzin hadn't of stopped her, she would have taken out the entire room. She was obviously defective. And despite all common sense, they had gone ahead with the mission. They had placed a defective killing machine in a school full of civilians. She would jump the gun.
So when Lin was informed that a professor had been murdered, a professor who taught one of her classes, Lin suspected her prediction was correct.
She lead the girl in a secluded classroom, and after making sure no one was around them, she shut the door behind them. Before she could demand answers, the subject asked a question of your own.
"I thought you were the head of security of the White Lotus," she asked, "Do you have two jobs?"
Lin was slightly taken a back by the innocence of the question. With the library of programming the girl had, she couldn't differentiate that one simple fact. But this wasn't the time to answer her stupid questions.
"What did you do?" she demanded.
"I did a lot of things today," Korra said.
"That's not what I meant," Lin shouted. It was weird, watching Korra react. Normally when she shouted at people, they would flinch. They would get angry. They would react. Korra just stood their. No reaction. Nothing. It was unnerving
"What do you mean?" Korra asked.
"Did you kill the professor?" Lin demanded. Korra shook her head.
"I haven't had a chance to investigate her, yet," she said, "I don't know if she was part of the Red Lotus. I'm only supposed to take out Red Lotus members."
Lin sighed, rubbing her forehead, "You didn't kill her."
"No," she shook her head, "Was I supposed to?"
Lin rolled her eyes. As distrustful as she was of her, she didn't think she quite had the capacity to go rogue. If she had killed the professor, she would have said so. The subject hadn't killed anyone.
Yet.
When Korra got out of her conversation with Lin, her immediate response was to go back to Asami. However, when she reached the area where they were, the girl was gone. There was no sign of her anywhere.
Korra's first response was to go search for her, before she realized that she was probably talking to other police officers. She wondered if she should stay, wait for Asami to get back? But she realized she didn't know for sure that was where Asami was. Asami could have gone to meet with someone, or perhaps she had went home for the day.
She decided, with some reluctance, that her best course of action was to go observe the area. See if she could find any signs of the Red Lotus around the scene.
She spent the next few hours at the school, doing just that. Listening on people's conversations, observing their movements, looking for any small hints of the organization. However, she couldn't seem to find any. Eventually, there was nothing more for her to find at the school. It was time to head back to the place assigned to be her home.
The building was on the other side of the city. The most efficient way to travel there was via the city's subway system. It worked out, as students at the community college were granted free transportation.
As she stood at her train's platform, she looked around at the various people around her. There was a large assortment of people, with much more variety then she had seen before. There were some that she recognized as students, but there was a fair amount of business-like people. There were families, and individuals playing instruments in the station, pandering for money.
Soon enough, the station started to rumble, as their train arrived. A large group of people flowed out, making their way around her, and Korra walked onto the train. From what she had been told, this would be a twenty minute trip. She would be getting off at Air Temple Station.
The train was crowded with people, and there wasn't an open seat for her to sit. Korra shrugged, and made her way to a pole, holding onto it. Other people filled the train, and soon enough, a woman made her place next to Korra.
"Excuse me," she said, as she grabbed onto the pole.
The finally, everyone had boarded, and the subway doors closed. Korra tightened her grasp, as the train began to move.
"Student at the community college?" The woman asked. Korra looked to her, slightly surprised by the woman's observation.
"How did you guess?"
"Well, you look like a student. Besides, your boarded from Community College Station," she replied.
"That's logical," Korra said, starting to observe the woman. She was tall, with a muscular shape. Black hair tied in a braid, and a beauty mark on her cheek. She noticed that she wore a Republic City Community College sweatshirt.
"You're a student too," Korra pointed out.
"So I am," The woman replied. There was then a silence between them, and Korra wondered if she should let it linger. Was she to end the small talk, or continue the conversation. She felt like she was supposed to introduce herself.
"My name's Korra," she said. She thought back to when she met Asami, how they shook hands. Korra presented her hand to the woman. The woman smiled, and grabbed onto it. She gave a firm handshake.
"You can call me Kuvira," the woman replied, "So, Korra. Where did you live before coming to Republic City?"
"How do you know I'm not from Republic City?" Korra asked, once again, amazed by the woman's observational skills. Kuvira laughed a strong laugh.
"It's the way you look around the subway," she replied, "You're looking around, taking in the sites of the subway. Well, let me make your life easier. Nothing interesting happens on the subway. At least, not until the bars close."
Korra nodded, taking a mental note of the information. She wasn't sure if it would be useful to know, but it was good to remember, just in case.
"So, how was your first day?" Kuvira asked. Korra shrugged.
"My first class was okay, but my second class was canceled because the professor was murdered."
Kuvira's eyes widened, her relaxed expression changing, "That sentence had a plot twist. There were rumors that Professor Raiko was stabbed, but I thought it was some stupid rumor."
"It wasn't a rumor," Korra replied, "I found the body."
"Shit," Kuvira said, "Sounds like my life is about to become hellish."
"What do you mean?"
"I have a work study with the school," Kuvira explained, "Specifically, I work security."
"Security?" Korra asked, her ears perking at the word.
"Yeah, and it's about to be a huge pain," Kuvira groaned, "Of all the professors who had to be murdered, it had to be fucking Raiko."
"Why's that?" Korra asked. Kuvira groaned, rubbing her forhead.
"Wow, you really are new here," Kuvira said, "Professor Buttercup Raiko, otherwise known as Mayor Raiko's wife."
The train started to come to a stop, as Kuvira let go of the pole.
"This is my stop," she said. The doors to the train started to open, "I'll see you around, Korra."
And with that, Kuvira disappeared into the crowd.
It had been agreed upon that Korra would be living with Tenzin and his family. It was a part of her cover. She had been hired to be a live-in tutor for Tenzin's children. Korra was a bit unsure about how this was going to work out, seeing as she was given no information on how to be a tutor, or how to deal with children. However, Tenzin assured her everything would be fine.
"You must be Kid A!"
Korra looked to Tenzin, and then waved at the strange woman. She was standing by the door, as if she was waiting for them.
"Kid A?" Korra asked, "I thought my name was Korra?"
"Kid A is your subject name," Tenzin explained, "Your real name, your true name, is Korra."
"It's such a lovely name, too!" The woman exclaimed, "I'm so glad to finally get to meet you! I'm Pema, Tenzin's wife."
It was then that Pema raised her arms to Korra, and started to approach her. Korra felt herself tense, preparing for an attack. Tenzin placed his hand on Pema's shoulder, stopping her.
"Darling, let's not overwhelm her," Tenzin said. Pema looked confused for a second, before laughing, nodding along at her husband.
"Oh! You still haven't worked out that bug in her programming," she laughed.
"She knows I'm not human?" Korra asked, looking to Tenzin, "I thought only White Lotus members knew."
"Of course I know, silly!" Pema replied, "I helped Tenzin design your programming!"
Tenzin smiled, placing his arm over Pema's shoulder. He leaned in, planting a kiss on her forehead
"Pema here designed some of your more human traits," Tenzin said, Korra observing the large smile on his face. He gently rubbed his fingers over her shoulders. She leaned her head onto his body.
"I thought my human traits were deemed a failure," Korra said. The room became silent, and Korra noticed Tenzin's face start to pale. However, Pema seemed unaffected. She simply laughed it off.
"That's the problem with those tech-heads at the Red Lotus," Pema said, "The White Lotus thinks you can be human based off the memories we program into you, but that's not how it works." She broke from Tenzin, and took a step forward, "Humanity comes from experience. Real, physical experience."
"How?" Korra asked.
Pema laughed, "It's hard to explain, Korra, but you'll understand soon," She turned towards the door, "Ikki, Meelo! Come say hello to our new houseguest!"
The sounds of crashing and laughter were heard from inside, as two children came bouncing out of the house. A girl, and a boy. Korra noticed how similiar they looked to both Tenzin and Pema. They had their mother's features, but they had their fathers eyes.
"You're our new robot!" the boy exclaimed. He ran around her, examining her.
"They know too?" Korra asked, looking down at the two kids. Pema and Tenzin nodded.
"Pema keeps a strict No Secrets rule in this household," Tenzin explained.
"A healthy family is open, and honest with each other," Pema said, looking down at the two children. She ruffled Meelo's hair, ever so slightly. The boy laughed. Korra smiled.
"You're really pretty for a robot!" the girl said, "Your hair looks really soft. Is your hair soft?"
Korra thought for a moment, before touching her hair with her hand. It felt soft enough, she supposed.
"Yes, my hair is soft," she said. Ikki's smile widened.
"Yay!" she exclaimed, "We can braid each others hair. And paint each others nails. And talk girl talk! It'll be awesome."
"Sure," Korra said. She wasn't quite sure what all of that would mean for her, but the girl seemed enthusiastic. It seemed fun.
"Let's go back inside, show and show Korra around," Pema said. The kids nodded, and ran back in the house.
"Come on, Korra!" The boy shouted. The girl ran to the door, and waited for Korra to follow.
"I'm so excited!" she said, as Korra passed her, "It'll be like having a sister again!"
The next day at school started out relatively similar to her first day. She was once again surrounded by students who were unfamiliar with the area, frantically searching for where it was they were supposed to go to class. However, as she walked, she noticed that there were quite a few cops scattered around the campus. Occasionally, she would see a couple of them questioning students. She thought about Kuvira on the train, what she said about security increasing. She wondered how the up in security would effect her investigation.
If a Red Lotus member was behind the murder, then she could use this to her advantage. If the cops discovered the murderer, she could have a reference point to which to connect the dots. She would have an idea of who that person associated with. However, the increase in cop activity could have the opposite effect. The Red Lotus could be keeping a lower profile. Either way, she realized she had to keep her guard up. She was in the thick of it.
The best thing she could do would be continue on as normal. Act like she was a regular student. Her first class of the day was simply titled Basics of Swing Dance, and was being held at a building at the other end of campus: The Kuruk Hall of Fine Arts. It was a chance to get to know the other side of campus. It would help to widen her scope.
As she made her way to class, as she made her observation, she kept an eye out for Asami. They shared two classes, so it stood to reason that they may have shared more. At least, Korra hoped they did.
Once again, she arrived at the class early. She looked at the clock, and found that she had twenty minutes until the class started.
And once again, she was the first one there. None of the other students had arrived yet. In fact, the halls were relatively quiet. The only sound, was from a faint music coming from behind the door. A muffled, lively rhythm. Jazz music. Korra wondered if she should go in, investigate what was behind those doors. She was curious what she would find. Hopefully, not another body.
Before she could make that decision, she heard footsteps. She looked down the hall, and saw a pair of boys approaching. There was a taller one in a red scarf, and a shorter one in a green shirt. They shared looked similar to each other. Brothers, maybe, perhaps cousins. They didn't notice her, too into their conversation.
"...I'm telling you. We'll be the only two guys in the class. We'll be swimming in ladies! It's perfect." said the one in the green shirt.
"Psh," the boy in the red scarf rolled his eyes, "You're not in here to pick up women. You're here to impress Opal."
"I am not!" Green Shirt replied, "Sure, I can see how Opal could be considered the girl of my dreams...but the world is an ocean. Opal is just a fish in a sea of millions."
"A fish who is an award winning swing dancer," the other taunted, "Who's mom just so happens to teach this class."
"Two random coincidences," Green Shirt said. It was then that Korra caught his eye. He smiled, "Hello!" he shouted from across the hall.
Korra waved at them. The two walked up to her. Korra noticed the goofy smile on green shirts face. Red Scarf looked annoyed, like he didn't want to be there, for whatever reason.
"Hello," Korra said, making more observations about them. They were both tall, muscular. They shared facial features, but their eyes were different. Red scarf's were thing and brown, while Green Shirt's were wide and green. They seemed friendly enough.
"I'm Bolin, and this is my brother, Mako!" Green shirt introduced, "Are you hear for swing dancing?"
Korra nodded, smiling at the two. That's when Bolin started to realize the music coming from inside the other room. His eyes widened.
"Oh shit, are we late?" he exclaimed. Mako sighed.
"The sheet says the class starts at 10:30, dummy, we've got another ten minutes," he said, "Someone's probably just practicing."
"Oh cool!" Bolin exclaimed. He moved to open the door.
"Bolin, wait-" but it was too late. He had already entered the room. Mako gave an aggravated sigh, and looked to Korra.
"Sorry, my brother's a colossal idiot," he groaned. Korra shrugged.
"It's not that bad," Korra said, "I went into my class early yesterday."
"How'd that work out?" Mako asked.
"We found her murdered," Korra responded.
Mako's eyes widened.
"You were the girl with Asami!" he exclaimed. Korra looked to Mako, unaware she was smiling.
"You know Asami?"
Before Mako had a chance to respond, Bolin poked his head through the door.
"You guys, you should see this!" he exclaimed. Korra and Mako looked to each other, before following Bolin into the room.
Inside, there were two women inside. Their movements were lively, but grounded. There was an electricity in their movements, as they moved perfectly in sync with each other and the music. They watched them dance from behind, the two dancers unaware of their audience.
One of them looked to be older, at least from her graying hair color. Her body was small, almost delicate looking, but Korra noticed a certain tone to her muscles. Korra looked to the other one, before realizing that her figure looked familiar.
As their dance came to a close, Bolin gave away their secrecy. He cheered, clapping his hands.
"Bravo!" he shouted. The two woman turned around, and Korra realized why the one woman looked familiar. It was the woman she met on the train yesterday, Kuvira. Kuvira's eyes landed on Korra, and she smirked.
The elder woman smiled at her visitors, and gave a slight bow.
"Oh, no need to be impressed," she said, "It was just the Shim Sham. If I'd known people were watching, I would have really given you kids a show."
"Well, you shim sham blew my mind!" Bolin exclaimed.
"Are you kids hear for the class?" she asked. Bolin nodded. The woman laughed, "Well, then you'll learn to do just that and more. I'm Suyin Beifong, your teacher for this class. But you can all call me Su."
Korra turned her attention to Su as she spoke. Did she say her last name was Beifong? Did she had any relation to Lin Beifong?
Kuvira, meanwhile, quietly packed her green leather bag. She made her way to the door as the group talked to Su. She passed Korra.
"Must be nice coming to class and finding the teacher alive, huh?" she said, "Watch out for her. She's tougher then she looks."
With a swing to her step, Kuvira left the room.
The class was nothing like the last class Korra had experienced. It was a small class, with only ten people enrolled. Instead of spending it sitting at a desk, they spent it moving around the classroom. Kuvira was right when she said that Kuvira was tougher then she looked. She spent the first half of the class warming up her students. They did various exercises and stretches. They did sit ups, push ups, and planked for a full minute. While Korra had no trouble with it, she could tell it was a strain for the rest of the students. Their faces were sweaty and red. It was almost humorous.
The class got much easier when they finished. Su talked about the origins of swing dancing, the reasons why it was a good skill to learn. She talked about the three things they would need for class, "Sensible shoes, loose clothes, and a positive attitude!" Korra stored the information in the back of her mind, It was nothing that was too important.
Soon, they were back in the swing of things. Su taught them a basic movement, the rock step. It was painfully simple, and they repeated it for the rest of the class. Korra found herself wishing to go back to stretches. She enjoyed those more. They were less monotonous.
But soon enough, the class came to a close. Su dismissed the class until the next time they met, promising that it was only the beginning. Things would be getting harder from here on out.
Korra went to pack her stuff, but was stopped.
"Korra...could I speak to you a for a moment?" Su asked, as she was getting ready to leave. Korra shrugged, as she walked towards Su. The rest of the class left the room. It was just the two of them.
Su looked around, as if to make sure the room was secure. Feeling satisfied, she smiled at Korra.
"You're the White Lotus experiment, correct?"
"Uh...yeah. How did you know?"
Su simply laughed.
"I have my ties with the group," she said, laughing a bit, "I'm not necessarily a member, but I am an ally. I just want you to know, if you need help with anything, I will be right here."
Korra smiled at her, nodding.
"Thanks," she said, "Is that all you wanted to say to me?"
"Well, no," she said, "I may have some information regarding the Red Lotus that you may find useful."
Korra stood to attention, preparing to take in this information.
"You know the core value of the Red Lotus? They believe that true freedom comes with the absence of order."
"That's what I was told," Korra responded, "Anarchy."
"There is a place, the Kyoshi Cafe. Once a month, they hold a show. The Crimson Garden Revolution, a concert that's invite only."
"Crimson Garden," Korra repeated, "That does sound similar to Red Lotus. How do you know about it?"
"I know of some faculty members that attend every show," she replied, "I've also begun to notice that they've been passing out invitations to more...rebellious students."
"They might be recruiting them," Korra responded. Su nodded her head.
"It might be a lead to look into," Su said. Korra smiled, and grabbed her bag. This was just the lead she needed.
Korra waved goodbye and rushed out of the classroom. To her surprise, Mako and Bolin were standing there.
"What was that about?" Bolin asked.
"Nothing," Korra responded, "Why are you two still here?"
"We're meeting up with-"
Before Mako could finish that sentence, they were greeted by the sounds of rushing footsteps. Korra turned to look.
And to her joy, there was Asami, running towards them. There was a large smile on her face.
"Mako, Bolin, I have awesome news!" she called out. She saw Korra standing next to the two brothers, "Korra!"
She met up with the three of them, looking at Korra.
"You're taking swing dancing with these guys?" Asami asked. Korra nodded. Asami smiled, "That's awesome! Someone needs to keep an eye on these idiots. Make sure they don't twist an ankle." She laughed, and Korra's smile grew wider. It was a sound she didn't realize she missed.
"What's your great news?" Mako asked.
"Well, you know Professor Ghazan?" Asami asked. She reached into her pocket, reaching for something, "Well, I ran into him in the hallway, and we started talking about music, and long story short..." she pulled out four fliers. They were white, with red flowers crudly printed on them, "Well, he gave me these invites for a concert! The Crimson Garden Revolution!"
Korra's eyes widened at the name of it. Ghazan had invited Asami. Did that mean Ghazan was in the Red Lotus? Did that mean he was trying to recruit Asami?
"I have four tickets...so there is just enough for all of us!" she turned to Korra, "That is, if you want to come. I mean, I know we just met and all, but..."
"I'll go!" Korra interrupted. Asami jumped, and clapped her hands together.
"Great!" she said. There was some musical tone to her voice, Korra noticed. It was nice, "Anyways, I have some time before my next class. We should all get lunch."
"Why not," Mako said, "That class left me beat. I could use some food."
"I'm in!" Bolin chimed in. Asami looked to Korra.
"What about you? Wanna get lunch?"
Korra felt a weird bubbly feeling. It was weird. She couldn't explain it...but she liked it.
She adjusted her bag on her shoulder, looking between Asami and the brothers.
"Sure. Let's get lunch!"