Chapter 3! This and the next chapter are based around the same theme as Chapters 3-4 of the original, namely a meeting between Silver and Amon. It's a two parter and will give some insight into both Silver, my version of Amon and some of the powers that will be shown in this version of my story.
Thanks to all of my reviewers!
Enjoy!
The First Avatar
Book 1: Greed
Chapter 03: Silver and the Masked Man PT.1
It was an early and rude awakening for Korra and her friends. One by one, Silver walked into their rooms and dragged them out of bed, making them all wash and dress quickly, before making them eat an abnormally large breakfast.
"Trust me, you'll need it." she had said, a smile on her face. That alone had scared the teens, but Silver's notoriety since the incident with Korra only added to the possible danger that she had planned.
Like soldiers, they were marched out and lined up in the courtyard, with Silver walking up and down, occasionally stopping to look at one of them or squeeze their arms. Both Mako and Bolin flinched when she placed hands on their heads and necks, but she didn't take their bending. After doing the same to Korra and Asami (much to their confusion), Silver stood before them again and made her final judgements.
"Mako, hot-headed but passionate. Tries too hard to appear cool. Somewhat reliable. Skilled with Fire and somewhat skilled with Lightning. Bad at conserving energy."
Mako just looked on; clueless, trying to process what Silver had just said, but the First Avatar was already moving on to Bolin.
"Bolin, light hearted and jovial. Poor at sensing atmospheres. Protective and friendly, while being skilled with Earth. No skill in Metal and has excellent agility for an earthbender."
Bolin was a little more pleased with his judgement, but not so happy at being told he couldn't read the atmosphere! Then again, he admitted that he put his foot in his mouth sometimes.
"Asami, intelligent, strong and independent. Durable for a rich girl and remarkably agile. Physical strength is lacking and practically no strong defensive capability. Non-bender."
Mako and Bolin looked jealously at Asami, whom smirked; happy enough with her judgement. But then it was time for Korra. The three already knew that without her bending, Korra had taken a heavy hit to her self-esteem, so they hoped Silver would go easy on her.
"Korra. Powerful offensive fighter and decent defensive fighter. Smart, when she applies herself. Tends to be impatient and rash and makes a lot of mistakes, but is generally quick to learn and correct herself. Agile and physically tough. Lacks spirituality. Currently a Non-bender." Silver finished, looking satisfied. Korra didn't seem to be upset by the judgement; in fact she looked quite pleased with herself.
"So, what was the point of that? Did you just feel like pointing out all our flaws?" Mako said, sulking.
"I don't like keeping things a secret unless it's for the best. I wanted all of you to know exactly what I thought of you." Silver said, smiling smugly.
"you think like a tactician then." Asami said; an eyebrow rose at the First Avatar's odd behaviour.
"Who cares about that!? When are we going to start training!?" Korra yelled, pumping her fist with anticipation.
"Well, since you and Asami are non-benders, you will be learning some advanced martial arts and chi-blocking. In the process, I hope to educate you about your enemy. In the meantime, Mako; I want you to practice hard on your lightningbending. And Bolin, I suggest you track down Lin Beifong. Metalbending would be insanely useful." Silver said, grinning widely.
Mako nodded and wandered off without a word, secretly happy he didn't have to spend time with Silver, whom he still distrusted. Bolin was less happy to be away from Korra and the others, but decided Lin would be his best shot at being in Korra's league when she finished her training.
With the two boys gone, Asami and Korra looked at each other expectantly; eager to begin.
"We'll be going into the city today. The Triad territories to be more specific. We need to find an Equalist safe house and join up with them." Silver smirked.
"Join Amon!? Like a spy mission?" Korra said, clearly excited.
"Yep. I already got some uniforms in our sizes from the police station. I didn't exactly get permission, so tell no one." The white haired girl said, pulling some packages from inside her sleeves.
Ignoring how Silver had found out their sizes, Asami and Korra ran off to put the uniforms on, as well as a grey cloak, which would prevent anyone from telling who they were, or what they were dressed as. They returned to find Silver already changed; her kimono neatly folded and placed on the steps of the courtyard.
"Did you actually change right there?" Asami asked, blushing slightly.
"Yes, I'm a little surprised you two didn't. There's no one else here after all…" Silver said, confused.
"Except you and each other…" Korra muttered, her cheeks a little red.
Silver laughed at them both, amused by the habits and sensibilities of this generation of girls. Deciding not to embarrass them further, they got on the first ferry to the city and walked to the darker, seedier districts. Amon had set up safe houses everywhere, but the easiest to find were all in the Triad controlled neighbourhoods.
Eventually, they ran into a small crowd that was wondering around a dilapidated old office building. Korra recognised one of the men as the doorman from the rally she had been at with Mako. slipping on their borrowed masks, they approached.
An older gentleman in a somewhat tattered suit scowled at them. "You three! What are you doing wearing that in broad daylight!?" he growled.
"We were hunting benders all night, just got back! Is Amon still here?" Silver asked, acting serious and tired, like she had really been out all night.
"Amon is still watching the recruits train. If you need to report to him, do it soon." The old man said, glaring at Asami and Korra, both masked and clearly uncomfortable.
"Are those two, newbies?" another man asked, eyeing the girls carefully.
"Yeah, they only got the uniform a few days ago. Still a little shaky, but I'm showing them the ropes. Another time friends." Silver said, placing her arms around Korra and Asami to calm them. She kept them there until they were out of sight.
"That was tense." Asami said, breathing deeply to calm herself.
"Tell me about it… If we had been caught there, I'd be a one way trip to Amon!" Korra whispered, fear in her voice.
"You two aren't defenceless! Chi-blocking doesn't work as well on Non-benders, unless you adjust how you do it. If you ever get caught, you'd have about ten seconds before they fully caught on that their tactics won't work. That's enough time to run." Silver said, scowling slightly. Asami and Korra nodded before putting their masks back on and following Silver into the building.
They entered the foyer and approached a well-dressed woman, whom was busy talking on the phone. Silver made an unusual hand gesture by extending her middle and little fingers, which caused the woman to smirk and push a button on the underside of her desk. A sofa on the otherside of the room began sliding up the wall, revealing a trap door. Once the girls were in the trap door and had entered the dimly lit tunnel, Korra whispered to Silver.
"How did you know to do that?"
"I arrived in the city about a week after you did. When you issued your challenge against Amon, I began spying on them, in case I needed to sneak in and rescue you." Silver replied; a bemused grin hidden behind her mask.
"If you were already spying, why did you bring us here too?" Asami asked; her distrust in Silver showing.
The white haired woman frowned, "Spying is only our secondary objective. I need to learn more about Amon's plans and you two need to learn some Equalist fighting styles. If we get lucky, you can do it directly from Amon. Now hush up, we're here."
Korra and Asami turned their attention back to the tunnel, which had now ended in a large subterranean hall. Water poured into the room from the city's rain canals, and the glistening blue drops contrasted sharply with the blood red banners which hung on the walls. Several equalists, masked and unmasked, were lounging around on battered couches and futons, while a group of casually clothed people were on a raised stage, performing coordinated martial arts movements, following the examples of a masked man with a funky moustache and another one, who's appearance caused Korra's heart to beat faster than ever.
"Amon…" she muttered, terror thick in her voice.
"Cute, the girl has a crush!" a nearby equalist laughed, seeing Korra shaking while keeping her eyes glued on the man. Silver chuckled nervously, gripping Korra's hand.
"No, she's just a little star struck! She's been eager to train under Amon for a while now!" she said, making quick excuses as she squeezed Korra's hand. The pressure helped bring Korra back to Silver, before making her look down with disgust.
'Damn it! I knew he scared me, but this is too much!' she thought, realising how much her lack of bending had amplified her fears. Ironic, since she now had nothing to fear at all.
Cautiously, and doing their best to keep a low profile, they approached the stage; Silver bowing respectfully to the two Equalist leaders. "Greetings Sir, I have a couple of newer sisters here, they were hoping to have a training session with you both!" Silver said, distorting her voice slightly, much to Korra and Asami's confusion.
"Hehe, they heard that Amon was here and wanted personal training huh? He won't teach you how to take bending you know, that's his gift alone." The lieutenant said, grinning maniacally. This was a much different side to the man that Korra knew, having fought him recently at the Probending championships.
"At ease, neither of you have anything to fear from me." Amon said, noticing Asami and Korra's shaking. "I know you aren't in disguise; I can sense benders."
Korra looked to Silver for a second, whom didn't react; how did he not sense her then? No longer afraid of being found out, Korra and Asami relaxed a bit, amusing Amon and his Lieutenant.
"Ha! I love the newbies, they're always so jumpy. Well, get up here if you want to train. What about you Sister? Will you be joining us?" the Lieutenant asked as Korra and Asami climbed on to the stage.
"No Sir, I need to speak to my friends about an assignment. I'll take my leave." The disguised Avatar said before walking away and out of sight. Korra and Asami felt less confident now that they were alone, but soon found themselves swept up in the training. Their existing martial arts training helped them catch up and keep up with the others, and impressed Amon and the Lieutenant. When it came to actually sparring, Lieutenant showed them all the important pressure points and chi release spots; which would let them disable bending and even specific parts of the body. Within an hour, Korra was able to hit the easier points, but she still put too much force into it; causing Asami to scowl as she rubbed her dead arm. Asami was much more delicate and actually grasped the basics very quickly, leaving Korra a pile of unresponsive limbs, making both girls giggle a bit. The giggling stopped however, when Amon came over and began to lightly tap Korra's body, releasing the blocked pressure points.
"Um, Thanks. Sir." Korra said nervously; almost forgetting the title.
Amon frowned beneath the mask; he had heard that voice before… it wasn't the most distinct, but it stuck out in his head. Maybe she had been at a rally? Or maybe he'd overseen a training session from before she got the uniform?
"Sister, have we met? You seem familiar." Amon asked, helping Korra to her feet. She was almost knocked back on her backside by the question. Her heart stopped, as did her brain; leaving her a stunned and terrified statue. Asami began to panic and making excuses, but neither Korra nor Amon were listening as the Equalist leader reached for Korra's mask, and pulled it away.
I love cliffhangers :D
Silver has an unconventional way of thinking, so in her mind, the best thing to do when training is to sneak into the enemy base and learn straight from the main boss himself.
Next chapter will conclude this mini-arc and then we'll be meeting some old friends.
