Chapter Four: Consultants
Zirah's palm is grasped by a slender, nearly translucent hand, and she very gently helps the woman inside to her feet on the sidewalk. Her high heels click on the pavement, and Asami has to admit she is well dressed for someone whose hands are trembling at rest.
Korra recognizes her with a small grimace, which she quickly turns into the most welcoming smile the Avatar can muster. It is exactly who Korra should have expected, given the nature of what they are investigating. Prince Zuko's very delightful and not at all grating and callous younger sister.
The Avatar stands and smiles. "Well, hi, nice to see you ─ "
"Take me to Chief Beifong," interrupts the older woman and Asami snorts and laughs at Korra's visible cringe. "Is that yours?" Azula asks, still abrupt and frightening as she points a long, talon at Yumi.
"No, well, maybe. It's complicated," Asami stammers quickly as she picks up Yumi in her arms. The toddler is clinging and nervous, her amber eyes wide as an owl-cat as she studies the two princesses.
Korra, Asami and their young ward are left in the dust as Zirah wordlessly and gracefully escorts the second consultant into the police station. As Asami sees Korra's contorted eyebrows and confused expression, she can barely contain her laughter. Spirits, Asami really missed watching Korra interact with dignitaries.
"Korra Struggles At Speaking to World Leaders, Issue Eight, Volume One Hundred," Asami mutters teasingly and Korra just shakes her head.
[X]
Asami wrings her hands as she paces in the back rooms of Yue Bay Hotel. The ballroom is rented out for the night as Asami will host an important banquet honoring her investors. Korra is the guest of honor, and is currently watching Asami with a small smile.
"I love that you can face off with crazy people and shock guys with an electric glove, but wrong your hands and your-your eyebrows get kinda twitchy two, I only just noticed," Korra snickers with a stupid grin.
"I am a people person!" Asami protests.
Mako stands up straight, having been leaning on the curtains for several long minutes. "You're an up close with people person. Not a... I don't even know what this is," he says.
He points out Bolin and Pabu greeting guests and Asami and Korra kiss.
"Okay, Asami, this will be your good luck charm," Korra says, holding up the comic book she has had her nose buried in. Asami squints at it.
"Are you actually reading a comic book series about yourself?" Asami asks in disbelief. She then just laughs and shakes her head.
"This one also has you. Asami Sato, Electric Crusader," Korra reads and Asami thinks she must be kidding. But when the CEO squints and analyzes the page, she is startled to see that it seems to be her title.
"What am I wearing?" Asami asks, sitting down half on Korra's lap. "Did you commission this issue?"
"No," Korra says honestly and Asami cocks an eyebrow. "Although, honestly, I like the metal bikini. I think it would flatter your beautiful lady form and distract all the enemies."
Mako makes an uncomfortable sound as the two women giggle.
[X]
After her ribbing joke, Asami inquires softly, "Was that who I thought it was?"
"Probably. If you thought it was possibly our worst nightmare." Pause. "I'm kidding. She's not that bad. There are meaner old ladies, but most of them are too busy eating the souls of children to help us out." Pause. "She is going to be a good consultant and she one time said I had nice shoes," Korra admits with a sigh as she walks into the Police Station with Asami at her heels. "Were you hoping for Iroh?"
Asami shakes her head. She thinks she detects some jealousy in Korra's tone. "No."
"I mean he is one fine male specimen. I wouldn't hold it against you," Korra says weakly, still trying to compensate for how poorly her introduction went.
"A fine male specimen? Slow down; I can't keep up with your new vocabulary." Asami grins again as Yumi looks very confused. "Jokes aside, I actually think his sister is hotter..."
"She's not in the girl's club," Korra laments before struggling not to be floored by her embarrassing memory of a late night tracking a trafficker in Caldera with Zirah at her sleepy side. It was a very, very awkward attempt at flirting that Korra will likely never stop regretting.
"Is that what we're calling it? The girl's club?" Asami asks teasingly as they stop in front of Lin's office. The two royals and Mako are already inside.
"Brought you some tea," says the most welcoming voice Korra can think of. Kya has just approached with two cups, and she hands Korra and Asami each one. Still hot. "Yeah. Lin told me to go get tea. Apparently I'm her gopher-lemming now. Might as well embrace it."
"If you are a gopher-lemming," Asami says warmly, "you are the Queen of Gopher-Lemmings."
"Well, where are my bows and grovels, then, huh?" Kya winks at Asami before sidling around a desk and trying to peer through the grimy glass windows. "So, the Avatar, best mind of her generation, and the only witness in the case are locked out of the conversation?"
Korra nods. "I'm getting pretty used to it by now."
"I really hate her," Kya grumbles as she sets a knee on a desk to get a better look. There is a loud popping of her bone as she places her weight onto it and Kya groans. She pointedly looks to the sky, "I'm sorry, Universe, I absolutely hate no one. Please forgive your Gopher-Lemming Queen."
"Lin?" Korra is stunned by that. "You two seem like... friend type people."
"No, I really hate Princess Azula." Pause. "But Lin made me promise to keep my feelings out of the case, so long as I brought my sex appeal to it."
Asami starts laughing again. "What?"
"Well, she said something like that," Kya says, waving her hand. "Semantics, you know?"
The door opens and Kya steps off of the table as if she were an adolescent caught doing something bad. It is Mako, looking at all of them.
"You four can come in now," he announces, waving for them. Korra, Asami and Yumi exchange a glance before walking inside with Kya at their heels.
"All of you but the Avatar tell me what you're doing here." And then she points. "You first."
Asami's lips open and close as Kya cocks an eyebrow, as if to prove her point.
"I am Asami Sato of Future Industries, Ma'am, and I am a..."
"Too slow, you." She points at Yumi, whose eyes widen in terror at first.
"Yumi?" suggests the child and there is a beat of surprising patience. Yumi screws up her small face and tries to remember the word they keep calling her. "I'm a witness."
"There, see. That child was more articulate than you," Azula says coldly to Asami, whom now looks relatively aghast. Korra cocks an eyebrow at Asami pointedly.
When Azula turns, Kya crosses her arms and Korra tries to figure out if they have some kind of history. "I am Kya, you know me, but you've probably just forgotten in your old ─ Lin, that look is so unwarranted ─ and I am the appointed babysitter to make sure that Korra and Asami don't smoke the heroin or touch each other in naughty places."
Korra and Asami both blush furiously as Mako uncomfortably clears his throat and averts his eyes.
"Right, so all of you are completely useless. Have any of you had any experiences with the Agni Kai Triad? I'm still not talking to you, Avatar. Close your mouth before some kind of animal makes a home in it," Azula says in a tone that Asami wishes she could just steal and use on a regular basis.
"My dad borrowed money from them and it didn't end well," Asami says loudly, and everyone in the room is stunned. Kya's entertained expression is immediately somber. "My mom was killed by them when I was a little girl."
Yumi snuggles tighter against Asami, and the child's bond with the CEO is now evident to everyone, if it were not already.
"Okay, you are slightly more important now, but don't let it go to your head. How many murders have there been so far?"
"Twenty-three," Lin says calmly, the only person not looking wildly uncomfortable or confused.
"Right. Expect two more," Azula says as if discussing two more oranges, not two more corpses.
Korra cannot help but interject, "... what?"
"I said expect two more. I am an old woman with limited words left to speak and I do not want to repeat myself. Judging by the very fractured information you have managed to give me, there will be twenty-five murders because of the connection to gang violence. It will not stop there, I assure you. I am sure this killer or killers is after a certain thing."
"Why twenty-five?" Korra asks, forcing her way into the conversation whether people like it or not.
"The slang term in the Triad for a spy, undesirable, insurgent or traitor is a twenty-five. Lin, you've told me that you have suspicions that it is a copycat murderer of the 118 AG spree," Azula says quickly and crisply. Lin nods. "There were twenty-five murders then."
"So, what do you propose?" Mako asks cautiously.
"Well, evidently we wait to see what happens after the next two murders."
Korra jumps in there. "We're not going to let two people die, just to try to get another clue! There is always another way that doesn't involve basically killing people."
Hesitation. "So, when did you two break up anyway?"
"I don't see what that has to do with the fact that you've just proposed offering up two Republic City citizens as human sacrifices."
"It might be a problem. If I were whoever is doing something this elaborate, I would be very alarmed by the return of the Avatar right in the middle of my spree. And I would go right to the heart. Just," and she gestures loosely at Asami, "snip snip."
Kya loudly clears her throat and Lin looks calmly about to explode.
"Alright, if the Dragon Lady is done scaring little children away," Kya says sharply and Korra is stunned to see the tenaciousness of her free-flowing and carefree friend, "we need to figure out who the victims are going to be, right?"
Lin frowns. "The original murders were never solved because they weren't connected at all. None of it ever added up. Drove my mom up a wall for years."
"So, this could be the same person as last time, then?" Korra says, the thought just dawning on her now.
Princess Azula shakes her head. "No..."
Clearly, the three grey-haired women in the room know something that the youths do not, but none of them look very willing to share. Korra turns to Asami and Mako.
"We've figured out and accomplished way harder things before. Let's call up Bolin and save two lives," Korra says fiercely and Asami and Mako share a very similar smile. The smile of two people who would follow Korra into the Realm of Koh and back, because they love and trust her.
"I'll help," Zirah says fiercely, her eyes flickering up and down Mako in a way that makes Kya raise her eyebrows.
Lin then says, "I'll help too. But even if I don't want two innocent people to die, I won't sacrifice catching this creep if it comes down to it."
"How adorable," is all Azula says.
"Mako," Lin states, turning to the young man, "would you please take Zirah and her Aunt to the records office for me? I'm sure they will be much more helpful there than here."
"Y-yeah, of course," Mako says hastily, and Korra cannot help but notice how his eyes are stuck on Zirah as if they are glued there. "It's outside of the door."
"I figured," Zirah says with a smirk that Mako can only nod in response to.
The consultants are gone as quickly as they came, and Lin, Kya, Korra, Asami and Yumi all feel as if they have just been hit by a tornado. Honestly, they look like it too.
Lin pinches the bridge of her nose. "I have a migraine already. Asami, Sato Manor seemed like a safe enough place for Yumi before. I'd suggest returning there with Korra. Kya, if you're not too busy babysitting thirty year olds, I could use some help sorting evidence before tonight. We will convene again in the morning."
No one argues or protests, and Korra, Asami and Yumi scuttle out as quickly as Mako did, yet possibly with more awkward romantic glances.
"Don't smoke the heroin?" is the first thing Lin says to Kya once they are alone. She shakes her sore head and rummages in her desk for something to kill the pain.
"I do recall a certain person telling me that they had never smoked the heroin," Kya prods teasingly, a smirk spreading across her face. The wrinkles on her lips twist, and she looks like she could not be happier.
But she feels a little weak inside, admittedly. She hopes Korra and Asami make it, because seeing Azula and Zirah makes Kya think about what she had lost, even after she spent so long traveling the world, opening her chakras and learning how to live without judgment. Learning to move past suffering.
"I wasn't as versed in drugs as you or my sister," Lin says casually, not defensively, yet not in the same joking tone as Kya either. "You're not their babysitter. And you are free to leave whenever you please. I'm sure the reason you're here is because Tenzin and his children are trying to smoke you out like spider-wasps in a tool shed."
Kya has to admit that it is an astute observation.
"Why do you people hate having me around? Is it because I remind you that you're all doing horribly and I'm doing awesome?" Kya says and Lin rolls her eyes. She has gall, and Lin appreciates gall. "We probably should get down to business about this whole murder deal. I know I'm acting cavalier about it, but this is pretty serious."
"At last, you admit it," Lin says coolly before laying open all of the books in front of Kya.
"I remember that killer, I think," Kya remarks as she settles in her chair across from Lin. "I was just a kid but I remember my mom not letting me go into the city at night for weeks. A copycat killer would make this easier."
"Or harder." Lin shrugs. "I don't have much hope at this point, except maybe we get lucky or they get sloppy."
Kya cannot stomach looking at the pictures for too long. "It's really sick."
"You get used to it." Lin shrugs again.
"Do you remember my cynical phase?"
"Before you discovered meditation and aura healing?"
"Before I got out of my sullen teenage years," Kya corrects with a small smile.
"Yes. It was a sad phase of your life that I think we all have been fortunate enough to forget with age."
"I used to think it was so ridiculous that my dad wanted to save everybody. And nothing ever stayed in balance. It seemed really pointless."
"Of course it seemed pointless to a sixteen year old with... oh, what were those awful gloves you never took off? They were black and grimy..."
"My dad said that the world was a kind place at the heart and it was always worth fighting for." Kya tries again to look at the gruesome scene of the twentieth murder. "I agree with the second part. But, I do think eventually we should leave the fighting up to those young people."
"I would be lying if I said that working this case hasn't made me salivate for retirement," Lin admits, taking a sip of her black tea and finding it to be cold and stale. "I was thinking someplace sunny. Maybe I could collect seashells. I hear Ember Island has some nice private islands free of people bothering me."
"You would go insane in two days," Kya chastises, smiling wider. "I have been retired for... forever, I guess, and I can't imagine you taking long walks on the beach and doing some yoga in the morning. Collecting seashells..."
Lin looks almost hopeful and serene for a brief moment. "It would be quiet. I would like things to be quiet."
"Yeah, just the smooth noise of the ocean waves lulling you to sleep." Kya makes ocean noises with her lips and waterbending gestures with her fingers to try to make this less uncomfortable.
"Why is this funny to you? I have certainly had a fulfilling and long career, and I'm thinking," Lin begins before staring at Kya for a moment. She is still making ocean noises. "I'm thinking of giving my position to Mako after we catch this copycat killer."
Kya's teasing ocean sound effects cease abruptly. "Wow."
"Why is that surprising? He's a good kid, works hard and has plenty of experience. Almost a decade on the force, helped save the world a couple times." Lin shakes her head and takes another sip of old tea. It does not taste that dreadful, and she has a headache.
"I just never imagined you not as Chief Beifong. Well, I mean, after I stopped imagining your mom as that."
"Perhaps soon I will be Chief of the Seashells."
"Another joke. That's two in a week. I'm proud of you, Lin."
And cue Kya's cackling and Lin rolling her eyes yet again.
[X]
"You seemed pretty tongued tied, huh?" Korra laughs as she settles in Asami's sleek black satomobile with Yumi on her lap.
"I'm not talking to you, Avatar," Asami says in a hilariously bad snooty tone.
"I have no interest in speaking to someone who is less articulate than this little girl," Korra replies in what she considers a much better impression. "No offense, Yumi," she whispers quickly in the ear of her ward.
"Still not talking to you, Avatar," Asami snaps with slippery sweet fervor, getting into her impression with the magnificence of an Ember Island Player, as she at last pulls out of her parking spot.
Asami drives Korra and Yumi through the crowded streets of Republic City. Yumi is examining the shops and people that they pass and Korra is quietly conversing with her. Asami cannot help but turn and look at Korra with Yumi again and again, trying not to smile, or maybe trying not to frown.
She is now supposed to be somehow stopping a serial killer, gang war or something worse, and instead of being focused on that, she is focused on her feelings for the Avatar. The fact that she still loves Korra is evident; she has always loved Korra, in one way or another.
But these feelings hurt. They hurt her insides like little needles jabbing her again and again from the inside. She manages to shake most of her distraction away just in time to pull up into the driveway of Sato Manor and choke.
Korra smells the smoke immediately, and she quickly shoves open the door of the satomobile and gets out.
"Right, Korra," Asami breathes exasperatedly as she glances at Yumi and then at the smoldering rubble ahead of her, "run directly at the fire..."
Asami manages to get out, kicking open the glove box and grabbing the nearest weapon. Once it was a literal glove and Bolin could not stop laughing and pointing out the pun as Asami pretended not to get it. And then Korra joined in, and at last, Asami, with her cheeks flushed, relented.
"Yumi," Asami orders as the young girl curls into a ball, "you wait here. I have to go help Korra."
The CEO is grateful for her ability to remain calm right now. Internally she is screaming and running around in a panic, but she manages to click on the part of her brain that developed around the time she befriended the Avatar and started getting involved in near-death experiences on a regular basis.
She runs, the acrid smoke burning her nostrils and throat. Although she blinks several times, the ash still furiously stings her eyes, but she knows she has to find Korra in case this is not an accidental house fire. And, given the case Korra and Asami have gotten tangled in, the odds that it is an accident are astronomically low.
When Asami finally makes her way through the blinding smoke, she can see Korra's eyes glowing like bright lamps in the darkness. Asami quickly stumbles back, looking over her shoulder at Yumi, as the world is awash with water.
Asami runs to hold Yumi as she watches in awe, gazing at the way Korra bends the elements like a maestro bringing chilling and powerful tones from an orchestra. At last, the air smells of mud, ash and wood, and Korra is resting on a rock, her eyes returning to their usual sapphire.
The water has receded to wherever Korra summoned it from nearby, and Asami grabs Yumi as she races to see what damage has been done.
"It's... gone..." Asami is rendered speechless, her eyes wide.
She thought there would be structural damage. Maybe some blackened wood or an explosion in her garage. But it's gone. Just charred rubble. Her home has been wiped off the map, and Asami can barely fathom it. Her first thought is of important files, but the next is of her dad... her pictures of her mom and...
Korra stands up and slowly walks to her. "I'm sorry."
Asami forces herself to look away from the ashes and takes a deep breath. She will have to contain her feelings and sort them out later. "It isn't your fault."
"No, I... I got you wrapped up in these murders. This is why I broke up with you. So you wouldn't get hurt like this again," Korra says hoarsely and Asami spins around to face her.
"I don't need protecting. And it was my choice to get involved," Asami says fiercely. "We'll go to your place and I'll call someone to measure the damage."
Silence. "I..." Korra looks on the verge of tears and Asami cannot bear seeing that.
"It's been a really long week. We haven't slept. And when was the last time you had a meal and not something out of plastic wrapping? We're in this together, Korra. So chin up, and thanks for putting out my flaming house." Asami grabs Korra's wrist with her free hand, adjusting Yumi in her other arm, and they walk back to the car, still trembling from the attack.
[X]
Mako sneezes in the Records Office, the dust nearly choking him to death. He rubs his nose with his elbow before seeing Zirah watching, entertained.
"I... I usually use tissues," Mako says and her shoulders shake with silent giggles. "Uhm, anyway, there are... probably... records here."
He is sweating. Profusely. Sweating profusely and he rubbed mucus on his sleeve. Such a charmer. Mako is such a charmer.
"I guessed that there would be records in the Records Office," Zirah says warmly, walking to him. "So, we need to find whatever there is about those spree murders in 118 AG?"
"Yeah," Mako states, nodding sharply.
"And my Aunt is ─ somewhere..." Zirah blushes now as if she is the one covered in their own snot. "Oh my Agni, so help me, if she is making some innocent librarian cry right now... I mean, first the man on the boat, then the chauffeur, then the man who accidentally forgot to put sugar in my tea..."
"I think we're alone here," Mako says, wondering if he should follow Zirah when she springs off to go track down the whole person she lost.
He decides against it, and instead awkwardly shuffles his feet.
This is probably going to be a very long night.
[X]
Asami and Korra reach Korra's apartment and see Bolin and Eska waiting for them at the door. Bolin is bouncing from foot to foot from the cold, Pabu tucked neatly into his shirt, also shaking. Eska is in short sleeves and has a flat expression.
"You two don't look so good," Bolin says slowly, furrowing his brow.
"Why would they look good, Bolin?" Eska asks, turning to him. "They have just survived a fire."
Bolin just shrugs. "Asami, I think we should give you a little warning before you ─ oh, she's already inside..."
Asami finds out just what Bolin was trying to warn her about when Korra finally unlocks the door to her apartment and Asami steps inside. The CEO quickly has to close her agape mouth when she looks inside.
"Korra," Asami says in awe, "this place is decrepit. Why are you living here?"
And then her pale cheeks flush when she realizes that Korra is probably living here because they stopped living with each other. Asami has spent a good deal of time thinking about where everything went wrong, and all that it entails. But she has never had to look the facts of the matter right in the face like this.
In the cold light of day, Asami can see that she is not the only one who was in pain.
"It's not that bad. I mean, it's not Sato Manor but ─"
"I didn't mean it that way," Asami hastily says, contemplating reaching out and taking Korra's arm, but deciding against it. "I just mean that it probably isn't safe for Yumi to stay here right now. So..."
"Bolin's house?" Korra cannot mask her bitterness when she suggests that, and she does not think she regrets it.
Asami frowns faintly. "We'll clean," she says, at last looking up with that innovative twinkle in her emerald eyes. Korra loves how Asami looks when she has a great idea. "Let's have a cleaning day here and then it'll be perfectly good for me and Yumi."
"Me and Yumi?" Korra's mind catches those three words and cannot move on without addressing them.
"I was thinking I would stay too," Asami says softly, now thinking she has overstepped her bounds. But Korra shakes her head. "Given the fact that I am now homeless."
"That sounds great ─ not the homeless part, of course ─ I just ─ Naga loves company. I guess it's a cleaning day, then," Korra replies, tittering awkwardly with forced laughter. Naga looks up from the chunk of floor she has made her bed, and then rests her chin again.
Yumi wriggles out of Asami's grasp and runs to Naga, thankfully.
The loud footsteps of Bolin and Eska cease when they reach the door, and Asami and Korra exchange a glance. Korra quickly turns her head and kicks aside the crumpled newspapers, most of them about the murders, and then she shuffles inside.
"We're cleaning," Asami informs Bolin and he grimaces.
"Yeah, you know that's not really my," he attempts before sighing loudly. "I'll help. I can't say no to you two."
"I can," Eska states solemnly as her eyes locate the sofa. "I will be sitting here quietly, watching you clean."
Bolin shrugs and turns to Asami. "If we can get back together, you know..."
"Drop the Korra thing," Asami says in a tone Bolin has never heard. Her tone is cold and clinical.
Then he can smell the ash on her, and the sweat, and he realizes that trying to get she and Korra to kiss right after Asami just saw her mansion burn down is petty and foolish. He decides to make up for it by being an extra good cleaner.
"Pabu and I," Bolin says, very gently nudging Asami with his elbow, "are born cleaners."
Asami tries to smile but her lips just weakly twitch. "I'll pretend that I believe that if you do the bathroom."
Bolin touches his hand to his forehead in a salute, Pabu chirps, and Asami's eyes rest on Korra before she goes to find some form of cleaning products.