A/N: Thank you again for all the favorites and comments, and sorry for the delay. RL responsibilities get in the way, but I assure I'm not going to stop writing unless I get eaten by Cthulhu or something, in which case I'll let you guys know. (Hopefully Cthulhu's stomach has wi-fi.)


CHAPTER 6: FALL

Lin was not a party person. Especially not when the party was an inflated gathering of the so-called cream of society, and especially when it was held for the new Avatar. But one of the negative aspects of being the Chief of Police was that she was obligated to attend these kinds of pointless events, so she endured it. But she would only stay for the minimum amount of time that was socially acceptable, and she certainly wouldn't wear a fancy dress.

Idle small talk she, unfortunately, could not avoid. After the brief meeting with Councilman Tarrlok and Korra, she was stuck in the company of the cousin – or second cousin? – of the Earth Kingdom's council representative who apparently could talk for several minutes straight without pausing to breathe. Lin retorted mostly with "mm-hm" and "aha" and had tried to pass the time by sipping a drink, but it was so nauseatingly sweet she considered dumping it into the nearest flower pot. She hardly noticed when the background music ceased and Tarrlok spoke into the microphone.

"…as for the tonight's entertainment, our original performers were hindered, so there's a change of program. Please welcome a rising group of fire artists, aptly named Firebirds!"

"What?" Lin suddenly awoke.

"Yes, it's awful, isn't it?" the representative's cousin replied. "Restricting the use of iguana parrot hide in clothing production is trampling on our civil rights –"

"Not that", Lin interrupted. "What did he just say?"

The lights faded and people gazed around curiously as the band blasted a dramatic drum roll. A couple of long cloths tumbled down from the ceiling over the stage next to a wall; they were easily seen because their ends were on fire. Some people gasped, but Lin didn't blink an eye. She had seen that entrance before.

Many people didn't know this, but Lin enjoyed watching performance arts, as long as they were decent. And Kira's group, she had to admit, had developed to be more than decent. She watched as several dark silhouettes slid down the cloths and lit their pois, staffs and fans. Half of their equipment blazed with blue flames that earned more exclamations from the audience, reminiscent of Fire Lord Azula's signature firebending; Lin happened to know it was the result of a chemical concoction, but still, it was an impressive trick.

The performers started out in two groups, one with the red flames and the other with the blue ones, trying to one-up each other, like two warring families. Soon they merged and split into pairs, dueling very convincingly in the eyes of someone who didn't know anything about fighting. A real fight was rough and sharp and when done correctly, very short; this was a fluid, graceful display, made all the more dramatic by the dance of light and shadows cast by the fire, constantly in movement. But Lin understood the mix-up, because some people's fighting resembled a dance. Kira's did. Speaking of Kira, Lin had tried to find her among the faces painted with red and gold, but had become quite convinced the young woman wasn't there.

That was until a young man with fans "killed" one of the girls in the red group, and her allies rushed to avenge her. But before they could reach him, another figure emerged from up above, easy to spot because purple flames followed its outreached arms like wings. It descended quite fast, and the moment its feet touched the stage floor, its skirt ignited and engulfed it in huge, roaring fire from head to toe. When the most of the flames died out, revealing a slender woman with two fire sticks and ring of fire around her head like a halo, the audience clapped. Lin smiled.

The spirit of purple fire proceeded to attack everyone regardless of their side, as if she were enraged by the bloodshed. She twirled around the others and dodged their attacks, light as the wind and fast as lightning. Despite all the other performers surrounding her, Lin couldn't take her eyes off Kira. There was something absolutely mesmerizing in her fluidity, the way every step, strike and pirouette seamlessly followed the next. Not that Lin would ever tell her that; Kira didn't need any more encouragement to pull more death-defying stunts.

One by one, the red and blue ones took a hit and their fire went out, signifying their demise, until there was only one left in each side. They looked at each other and apparently decided it wasn't worth it, stilling in their places. Finally satisfied that she had brought peace, the purple figure became consumed by flames and disappeared into darkness.

People blinked as the lights were turned back on. Lin used the moment of confusion to escape the other party of the previous conversation and slipped out into a corridor. The air felt much cooler against her face there, she hadn't even noticed how hot it had been in the hall. It must have been all the fire. After a few minutes, the spirit of the purple flames, only no longer on fire, appeared from behind the corner and beamed as she spotted Lin.

"I'm so hot, I'm gonna die", Kira announced, snatched a drink from the tray of a passing waiter and emptied half the glass in one gulp. She almost wiped her forehead until she seemed to remember her face was still painted unrecognizable in purple, red and gold. "So, you come here often?" she asked as she reached Lin and wiggled her eyebrows.

Lin huffed. "I didn't know you'd be here."

"I didn't know I'd be here until three days ago", Kira replied. "It was a very last-minute booking, so we kinda had to scramble together a performance. And it needed someone who was willing to be dropped fifteen feet with this tiny wire and set on fire by one of our firebenders, so..." She shrugged and took another gulp. "What did you think?"

"You were beautiful", Lin replied, realized what she had said and cleared her throat. "I mean – the show was beautiful, and you were pretty good, admittedly. I liked that there was a story in it. Although I'm curious, how did your hair not catch on fire?"

"Thank you", Kira smiled and ran her hand over her hair, tied into big bun on top of her head. "The trick is plain conditioner, it's amazingly fire-resistant. Are you gonna finish that?"

"No, but it's awful. Too sweet. Wouldn't drink it if I were you", Lin warned as she gave her still nearly full glass to the younger woman.

"I don't care, I'm famished", Kira said, tilted her head back and poured most of the contents of the glass into her mouth. Before she could swallow and announce her opinion on it, Councilman Tarrlok appeared.

"Wonderful! I found exactly who I was looking for", he said, and for one cringe-worthy moment Lin thought he was talking to her, but he outright grabbed Kira's hand as he reached them. "I just had to come and greet the star of the show personally."

Kira's eyes widened as she stared at the man, cheeks ballooned with liquid. It would have been funny if Lin didn't have a low opinion of the councilman as it was, and his expression as he leaned towards the younger woman, far too close for someone he'd just met, made Lin's jawline twitch.

Kira swallowed loudly. "...Thanks, but it was a group effort. And Dhari handles most of the choreographing, so you'll want to talk to her -"

"I am Tarrlok, the Councilman of the Northern Water Tribe. But I'm sure you already knew that", the man said, as if he hadn't heard a word he said. He bowed down, grabbed Kira's hand and planted a kiss on the back of it. "Does a lovely vision such as yourself have a name?"

"Um... Kira. No official title here", Kira replied, laughed nervously and carefully tried to scoot closer to Lin and away from Tarrlok.

Lin's first instinct was to grab the young woman, take her far away from the man's reach and growl at him for good measure, but she knew she couldn't do that. She eyed the metal rim of the glass in Kira's hand and suddenly got an idea. With a small, subtle flick of her fingers – not that Tarrlok paid any attention to her, anyway – the glass had tipped just enough to pour the remains of its contents on Tarrlok. More specifically, the ridiculous white handkerchief he wore at his belt.

"What the -!" Tarrlok jumped and finally let go of Kira's hand, who quickly retreated to Lin's side.

"Oh no, I'm so sorry! How clumsy of me!" Kira exclaimed with an exaggerated gasp and brough her hands to her mouth.

"Nevermind", Tarrlok said through gritted teeth and tried to pull a smile on his lips. "Accidents happen. I'll just go clean this up..."

Kira waited until the man was out of earshot to burst laughing, leaning on Lin's shoulder to contain herself. "My hero", she giggled. Lin smelled the smoke in her hair, mixed with the fruity scent of the conditioner and something that had to be just Kira.

"Anytime", she replied, trying to hold back a grin and barely succeeding. She awkwardly patted the young woman on the back until she was able to stand on her own two feet.

"But seriously, thanks", Kira said as she wiped the corners of her eyes. "That guy is creepy. Korra told me he's tried to get her join his 'Task Force' by sending her these extravagant gifts. I mean, he sent her a fancy sports car. Who thinks they can buy the Avatar by shoving enough stuff at her?"

Lin raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. "I've never liked him. I've met crime bosses less grimy than him."

Kira grinned, but before she could reply, a couple more familiar faces appeared. Or rather unfamiliar, because both young women also still had their face paint on, and Lin couldn't have named them for a police report even though she was pretty sure she had met them passingly.

"By spirits, Kira, we're a mega hit!" one of them yelled. "We're getting so many inquiries, you gotta come with us to talk to all these people!"

The girls grabbed their slightly bewildered friend and started dragging her back to the hall. "Uh, see you!" Kira called out at Lin over her shoulder.


Kira liked the afternoon shifts at the tea shop. After the lunch rush and before most people got off work, it was very peaceful and quiet. She usually spent most of the time filling and organizing shelves and listing the products they were low on stock on rather than serving customers, and with the chaos in the Hotman, it was a welcome change of pace. Smiling, she handed Mr. Bosu a cup of cinnamon tea – the man came three times every day, on morning, noon and before closing time – and turned to the next customer, a girl her age with a dark brown bob and pine-green eyes.

"Don't tell me we have practice, I totally forgot and you had to come look for me", Kira said.

"No, I just – I need to talk to you about something", Ann Lee said and pulled a strand of hair behind her ear. "When do you get off?"

"And you can't talk to me here?"

Ann Lee shifted on her feet. "Not really, it's… kind of personal."

Kira raised an eyebrow. "Well, okay. I need to go to the restaurant straight from here, but wait a minute…" She hopped over to the entrance to the storage room and peeked between the curtain. "Mrs. Chai, mind if I take a lunch break now? I can finish the list of orders after that."

"I can take care of the orders of my own shop. You go eat, get a little meat around your skinny bones!" yelled an old woman's voice from the back.

"So… was that a yes?" Ann Lee asked.

"Pretty much", Kira grinned and finished scribbling on the notepad. "Let's go."

They went to a noodle bar a couple blocks away. The street level was an open space, but the upstairs was divided into small lodges. Their walls were merely paper, but at least it gave an illusion of privacy. The women took their orders and climbed upstairs, settling into a corner lodge with a small window out into the street.

"So, spill. What's up?" Kira asked, pouring mustard into her ramen bowl.

Ann Lee straightened her already perfect gymnast's posture and took a long time chewing a piece of tofu before she started talking. "I was thinking the other day... have you kept up with your chi-blocking?"

"Yeah. It's been useful, you know, on occasion", Kira replied a little reluctantly as the last time she had used that particular skill flashed through her mind. A cold breeze of air brushed the back of her neck and she shook off a shiver. "Why?"

"Are you busy? I mean, I know you're always pretty busy, but do you have any free time at evenings?"

Kira frowned. "What are you getting at?" She narrowed her eyes and pointed her chopstick at her friend. "Is someone giving you trouble? Is it that idiot ex? Because if he's harassing you again, I swear I will cut -"

"No, it's not him", Ann Lee interrupted. "And I'm not in trouble. Hopefully, at least. It's..." She took a deep breath and spoke everything in one long sentence. "I know what you think about the Equalists but I've been going to some meetings and they have really good points and last time they asked if we had any friends who might be interested in joining our ranks and since you already know chi-blocking, I... well, I thought of you."

Kira's every sense faded. She stopped smelling the spices in her food and tasting the small piece of seaweed on her tongue. The sunlight and its warmth disappeared. A mushroom between her chopsticks dropped back into the bowl with a loud plop as she could only sit there and stare at her friend as if seeing her for the first time.

"You're not serious", Kira stated blankly.

Ann Lee huffed. "I knew you'd react that way, but just listen to me, okay? It's not just slogans and grand speeches, they're really on to something about the City Council and the gangs and everything. The newspapers paint them as criminals, but they're just ordinary people who want to protect themselves and their families and make this city more fair."

Kira let out a hollow laugh. "Fair?" She hit her closed fists on the table and hissed, "I don't know how they've brainwashed you, but there is nothing fair with what they're -"

"They haven't brainwashed me!" Ann Lee hissed back. "You of all people should know how dangerous some benders are! You know what Han was like! And you know way better than me what all those gangs do to people – just look at what they did to you back then!"

Kira stirred. "You have no idea about what was going on then", she said slowly. "Or now."

Ann Lee scoffed. "Do you think we're all stupid? Just because you're all quiet and sneaky about that stuff doesn't mean we don't notice when something's going on. I saw the burns when Suri was patching you up. Don't tell me you wanted to learn chi-blocking just for fun."

Kira's jaw clenched. "So I needed to defend myself from one or two thugs who happened to be benders. That doesn't justify what the Equalists are doing."

"Are you sure?" Ann Lee asked, deadpan.

"He took their bending!" Kira said so loudly that if there was anyone in the next few lounges, they had to overhear. "That's like – that's like ripping someone's heart right out of their chest, you don't do that!"

"They were criminals!" Ann Lee argued. "They've been terrorizing the city for years, and now they can't do that anymore."

"Do you think they're going to stop there? Just take the bending from 'bad' benders and leave it at that?" Kira asked coldly. "No. They're going to do that to everyone! Our friends included, Suri and Dhari and the others – are you gonna look them in the eye then and tell them it was fair?"

"You don't know that", Ann Lee said.

"Yes I do."

A silence descended and the temperature dropped so low the sun could have died. Ann Lee was the first to move, wiping her mouth before she cleared her throat and stood up.

"Just thought I'd ask", she said quietly. "Forget I said anything."

Kira gazed into her cooling ramen bowl long after Ann Lee had left, something slowly dripping inside her chest like drops of the soup dripped from the edge of the bowl.


A tram rolled next to the gym building and rattled sawdust right on the bottom of Kira's feet. She frowned and jerked her foot, moving one of her hands to reclaim her balance. Taking a deep breath, she let her arms bend until her forehead was brushing the floor, and passingly noted that someone should really sweep up their practice space before it caught on fire.

They had started the day's practice yet, because a couple members of the crew that had promised to attend hadn't shown up yet. Well, just one after Jarow had bursted in, late and out of breath as usual. The others were warming up, stretching or dancing along the music from the radio and avoiding Dhari, who was working on some new choreography by swaying around with her eyes closed. She did that.

"Has anyone seen Ann Lee?" Suri asked, bending the water she had been casually pouncing around back to her pouch. "She's not usually this late."

A chorus of shaken heads and no's followed. Kira bit her teeth together and exhaled loudly as she pushed herself back up.

"Maybe something's up with her grandfather?"

"I think she'd have said something. Besides, he seemed fine last time I went over."

"I any case, we need to start", Suri said, glancing at the clock on the wall. "There's some other group coming here right after -"

There was a knock on the door. Everyone turned to look, a little surprised that Ann Lee would bother to knock. They were even more surprised when the door opened and didn't reveal Ann Lee, but a small, elder man with round glasses and a very official-looking uniform. Or what was visible of it, anyway, from behind the huge flower bouquet he was carrying.

"Um, hello?" Dhari greeted him. "Are you... looking for something?"

"As a matter of fact, yes", the man replied. "Is there a -" he paused to check the card hidden in the bunch, "Kira here?"

Every head in the room turned slowly to stare at Kira's direction. It wasn't a pleasant position to be in, especially when upside-down. Kira lowered herself down and rolled up, eyeing the messenger suspiciously.

"Depends who's asking", she replied.

The man cleared his throat and continued reading the card. "Councilman Tarrlok would like to invite you to a night in the opera on Friday, eight pm. Enclosed in the envelope is the ticket with more information."

A few seconds passed in utter silence. Then a few people started snickering and someone made a long, annoying whistle.

"He would like to what?" Kira repeated with a deep frown. "Why?"

The messenger made another unnecessary cough. "According to my understanding, the Councilman was quite taken with your individual performance at the gala and would like to become better acquainted with you."

"Guess you can put it like that", Jarow muttered just loudly enough for Kira to hear as she passed him, rousing more laughter. Kira walked over to the messenger and picked up the card and the envelope, examining them critically.

"Is this legit?" she asked, switching her scrutiny between them and the man. The opera ticket, at least, looked real as far as she knew – though she only knew because Lin had taken her to the opera a few times, she could never have afforded it by herself. Although some of her friends were just the kind of pranksters to pull something like this, it seemed like an unusually elaborate and expensive hoax.

"Why, yes, completely legitimate", the messenger responded, correcting his glasses.

"Okay", Kira said and put the ticket back into the envelope. "Well, you can tell the Councilman -"

"That she appreciates the offer but politely declines", interrupted Dhari, who had appeared beside her as fast as lightning.

Kira frowned at her. "That's what as I was gonna say. Not in those exact terms, but -"

"Really?" Dhari raised an eyebrow. "And that would not have included the word 'shove'? I am not letting you ruin our PR."

"..." Kira sighed and stuck the envelope back into the flower bush. "Just tell him I said thanks but no thanks, or something to that effect. Now excuse me, but we really need to practice."

Kira gave the man a little push so he was out of the doorway and shut the door. Like clockwork, most of her so-called friends started laughing at that point, Jarow the loudest. He was sitting on the balance beam and holding his sides, practically howling.

"Wow, I didn't know you have such high-ranking admirers. Soon you'll be a total sellout and won't even talk to us lowly ordinary citizens."

"Shut up", Kira scoffed and pushed him off the beam.


It was dark, quiet and cloudy, the kind of night that raised the hair up on one's back without a reason. Ann Lee eyed every corner with suspicion, double-checking that the shadows in the distance didn't move. She had tried to tell herself that she wasn't doing anything illegal, that she had no reason to worry, but still every unexplainable sound made her jump a little.

That's why she sensed it before it happened, the swish of air as someone appeared behind her and tried to grab her. Ann Lee yelped and dodged the outreached hands, quickly backing off several feet as she turned around to see the perp winding in the wire they'd used to land behind her.

"Leave me alone!" she yelled. "I don't have any money!"

Deaf to her protests, the perp sprang at her. Ann Lee stepped aside and focused on the line of their spine, preparing to literally knock them of their feet. But as if reading her thoughts, the attacker blocked her hands and took hold of her arm, using it to throw her over their back to the ground. Ann Lee barely had time to register the eerily familiar jabs around her shoulder before one of her arms went numb and the other was bent behind her back.

"Let me go!" she screamed. "What do you – umphf!"

Her sentence was interrupted by a gloved hand pressing on her mouth. She kicked her feet furiously and struggled as icy cold fear spread through her body.

"Where is Amon?" a low, gravelly and totally fake voice spoke beside her ear. This actually made Ann Lee less panicky, first because her attacker wasn't interested in her and second… there was something familiar about the voice and the scarf she saw hanging beside her head, red with frayed ends.

"Wait… Kira?" she said as it clicked in her head. "What the heck are you doing?! Were you following me?"

The person on top of her shifted as she pulled the scarf off her nose and mouth. "Damn it, how did you know it was me?"

Ann Lee huffed. "One, you wear that scarf all the time. Two, there's only a handful of people who know chi-blocking, especially well enough to beat me at it. Three, that was such a bad impersonation, who were you trying to be?" She struggled some more. "Now get off of me!"

Kira responded by pressing harder on her shoulder blades. "Not before you tell me where he is."

"Who, Amon?" Ann Lee tried to frown at the other woman over her shoulder. "What do you want with him?"

"What do you think, invite him to a tea party?"

Ann Lee twitched her fingers, feeling if sensation had returned to her arm yet. "I don't know where he is, none of us do. And I'm pretty sure I wouldn't tell you if I did."

"I don't believe you", Kira growled, grabbing a handful of Ann Lee's hair and pressing hard enough on her locked wrist to make her cry out. "Tell me, or else -"

"Or else what?" Ann Lee scoffed. "You're not some scary thug, I've known you for six years. You're not gonna hurt me." Kira didn't reply. Ann Lee tried to stare at her friend half pleading, half angry, and found someone else's eyes. "You wouldn't."


The next time Lin visited the Hotman, or rather stormed through the doorway, she did it alone. After glancing around the restaurant, she spotted her target serving food to a table. Tapping her fingers against the side of her arm, she waited impatiently until Kira left the table and hurried to the younger woman.

"We need to talk", Lin hissed and grabbed Kira's arm.

"Nice to see you too, what's on fire?" Kira replied.

"Don't pretend not to know what I'm talking about." Kira feigned perfect innocence. Lin narrowed her eyes and lowered her voice. "A friend of yours was found tied up by the police station in the morning with a note addressed to me, and you're telling me you know nothing about that?"

"Every time something happens, you think it's me", Kira said and slithered out of Lin's grasp. She started walking towards the counter, picking up empty dishes as she went, and Lin followed her like a hound. Before the young woman could disappear into the kitchen, Lin stuck a piece of paper in front of her face.

"I recognize your handwriting. Even when you try to change it."

Kira halted and sighed deeply. "Okay, fine", she said. "Just a second."

She dropped off the dirty dishes to the kitchen before leading Lin to the staff area and opening a door into a dark closet. Lin raised an eyebrow, but she went in and Kira followed her and pulled the door shut before reaching up to turn on the single lightbulb.

"So?" Lin said, crossing her arms.

"So?" Kira repeated and climbed up to a higher shelf, pulling down a basket and starting to gather vegetables in it. Lin studied the scratches on her left hand and the shadows under her eyes."What do you want me to say?"

"What the flameo -" Lin started yelling and then remembered to lower her voice to a low, but no less angry hiss. "What the flameo do you think you're doing?"

"Look, she confessed to me she had joined the Equalists. After I followed her, caught her in the act and confronted her, I didn't know what to do because I didn't want her telling everybody so..." Kira shrugged. "I thought you'd like an Equalist gift-wrapped and delivered to your doorstep."

For a moment, Lin's mouth hanged open at the young woman's nonchalance. "That's not how it's done! You should have told me or one of my officers or, spirits, even Tarrlok's task force. What am I supposed to hold her on, your word?"

"You can hold her for a day, right? Question her and make her fess up. You can be pretty intimidating if one doesn't know you." Kira flashed her her usual charming grin, but this time it did nothing to soothe Lin's temper.

"Even so, you had no business playing cop and following her on your own!"

"I had to be sure!" Kira said, and her casual expression began to break. "I thought she was my friend, I – I guess I didn't want to believe she'd actually go and join them."

"'Was' your friend?" Lin repeated.

"Yeah", Kira said, staring down at the bell pepper in her hand. "Was."

They both startled when someone suddenly started yelling outside the closet. "I have had it with you bringing your girlfriends to work! You better be talking to yourself in there or I swear you're fire-"

Mrs. Palo yanked the door open and blinked as she took in Kira's company. The tall, rail-thin woman just stood there speechless and flustered until Lin wiped off some invisible dust from her sleeve and cleared her throat.

"I apologize for stealing your employee's time, but I had some urgent questions for her", Lin said in her most official tone and hoped sincerely her cheeks were not as hot as they felt.

"Of – of course, Chief", Mrs. Palo stammered. "It was a misunderstanding, I didn't mean to bother -"

"It's no matter", Lin said as she stepped out of the closet and nailed Kira with a sharp look. "We will continue this conversation at the station once your shift is over."

"I'll get off around eleven", Kira pointed out.

"I'll be there", Lin replied curtly, turned her back to the still baffled restaurant owner and left the premises. The evening air felt blissfully cool against her cheeks.

Mrs. Palo cast a suspicious glance at Kira. "What was the Chief of Police doing here, asking you questions? What have you done?"

"I haven't done anything", Kira said with a greatly offended expression. "For all you know, you may be talking to the key witness in a high profile case."

Mrs. Palo scoffed. "You're a key anything in your dreams", she said and chucked an apron at the waitress. "Put this on and go to the kitchen, the cooks need an extra pair of hands."


Lin wore a coat over her uniform as she rose up the stairs to the sixth floor of Kira's apartment building. She didn't know how much Kira interacted with her neighbors, but she figured it was better if the entire block didn't know that the police were knocking at her door. Fortunately nobody passed her in the stairs; the only sound she heard was a baby crying somewhere on the third floor.

As she reached Kira's apartment, Lin knocked quietly, just in case the young woman had lent her apartment to some friend to crash in. That would make what she was about to do next very awkward for everyone.

When nobody answered, Lin carefully metalbent the lock and slipped in. She had been to the place a few times since the Agni Kai raid, and hardly anything had changed. There was just more kitsch and an ever-changing collection of candles. The photograph of the woman and two children was still on the same spot on the shelf, only now it was surrounded by a few more pictures of Kira's friends. The balcony door was slightly ajar, probably left open for Ryu. Lin was glad the messenger hawk was not there; although they were on petting terms, she wasn't sure how the bird would react to her intrusion.

Because to be frank, it was an intrusion. Lin had no search warrant, no owner's permission, and not even really a probable cause. But after searching Ann Lee's place (much to the dismay of the girl's grandfather that she lived with), she had been planning to return straight to the station, but somehow she had drifted to Kira's apartment. This whole deal and Kira's behavior bothered her too much. There was something more going on here, and Lin was adamant to find out what.

Shoving her guilt away, she inspected her surroundings. As usual, there was a pile of clothes on the armchair and a collection of miscellaneous kitchenware spread around every available surface. Lin circled around the room, trying to gauge where Kira would hide something if necessary. She went through all the cupboards, but found nothing more suspicious than ingredients for smoke bombs and other questionably legal paraphernalia, but Lin had always turned a blind eye to them. She closed the last door a little frustrated, wondering if her hunch had betrayed her, when her eyes hit something colorful between a stack of newspapers on the table.

It was a map of the city. That itself was not suspicious. What made it suspicious were several circles and dots drawn on the paper, some with question marks and dates. It looked eerily familiar, because they had a map with very similar markings on the wall at the police station. Lin's lips tightened as she rolled the map up.

"Damn it, Kira", she muttered under her breath.


It was past midnight when Kira wandered into the interrogation room, two big takeaway coffees in her hands and her sandals leaving wet footsteps on the floor. She shook her head like a canine before setting the coffee cups on the table and squeezing her ponytail.

"It just started raining, I barely escaped it", she explained. "The guy at the front desk told me to come here. I can think of cozier places for a chat, but okay. I got an extra double espresso with whipped cream, you want one?"

Lin shook her head and closed the door. "Would you sit down?"

Kira shrugged, pulled up a chair and plopped herself on it. Judging by the sound, because Lin still couldn't bring herself to look at her.

"We have got to stop meeting behind closed doors. People will talk", Kira joked. Lin finally turned around to examine the younger woman lounging in the chair, long legs crossed on the table, stirring a spoon in the coffee. She tried to spot signs of nervousness, find cracks behind that stubborn smirk, but found none. The corners of Lin's mouth tightened as she pulled the opposite chair and sat down it it. Kira was even better than she expected.

"Lin, is everything alright?" Kira asked and set her legs down as she leaned closer, perhaps noticing her grim expression.

"Ann Lee is officially under arrest", Lin replied. "We did a home search and found her Equalist uniform. After that, she cracked quite easily."

"That's... that's good", Kira muttered behind her coffee cup. "Did you get anything useful out of her?"

"Not much. Like every suspect we've interrogated, she claims that she doesn't even know the identity of most people in the same cell, let alone those higher up in the hierarchy. It's a very carefully planned organization", Lin admitted reluctantly.

Kira tilted her head and frowned as she took another sip. "Then what did you want to talk about?" she asked. "I mean, besides that you probably still want to to yell at me."

Silent, Lin stood up and walked up to the rack in the corner where her coat was hanging. She took out the rolled-up map, returned to the table and laid it down in front of the younger woman.

"Care to explain this?"

Kira flushed noticeably paler and started coughing furiously as the coffee caught in her throat. Lin waited, arms crossed, until Kira had regained her ability to speak and looked up at her, blinking her teary eyes.

"How did you get this?" Kira rasped, massaging her throat. "Did you - did you break into my apartment?"

"When the police does it, it's called a home search", Lin stated dryly.

"But why?"

"Why?" Lin leaned closer, her palms against the metal table. "How about you try to explain why you have a map of known Equalist sightings? Don't try to deny it, we have one with very similar markings."

Kira swallowed. A crack rippled through the sky above the station. "Because I've been tracking them."

Lin raised an eyebrow. "I would assume, if this was something you were going to inform me about, you already would have."

"It's not. I'm not denying that. It's..." Kira's voice trailed off and she gazed off into the corner. "There's something I have to do. It doesn't concern anyone else."

"What?"

There was another hesitant pause. "I can't tell you."

Lin stared at woman in front of her, and almost saw her turn back into a stubborn teenager, with the same glower and teeth bit together tight. Her fingers pressed harder on the table, making small indentations on its surface. "I have turned a blind eye to a lot of your activities, but this is too much! You sneak around on Equalists' heels, you capture one of them, and then you lie to me about it..." Her eyes narrowed. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're acting suspiciously like them."

"What?" Kira scoffed, pushing herself up from her chair. "You honestly think I would have anything to do with them? After all the time we've known each other, everything we've been through, you think I could do that?"

Lin saw the hurt in her friend's face, but kept pushing. "I don't know! A couple weeks ago I didn't even know you could chi-block. With all these secrets you're keeping, I'm beginning to doubt if I know you at all."

Kira stared at her, slack-jawed, chest falling and raising; she looked rather like someone had snuck behind her and stabbed her. Seconds passed with only the rumble of the raindrops on the rooftop, as as her heart rate settled down, Lin began to regret her outburst. But before she could begin to consider apologizing, Kira spoke first.

"I can't believe you'd think that", Kira whispered, her voice cracking. She slammed the empty coffee cup against the table, grabbed the damp jacket she'd shed on the back rest of the chair and strode out the door.

"I didn't say you could leave!" Lin yelled, reprimanding herself for not locking the door. "We're not done!"

"Screw you, Chief!" Kira shouted back.

Lin breathed hot air, watching the young woman disappear down the stair, equally furious and dumbfounded. After a few seconds, she shook her head, grabbed her coat and ran after Kira.


Kira ran. She didn't care where, as long as it was out of the door and away from the station, away from Lin, away from everything. A Satomobile honked angrily as she ignored the red light and crossed the main street, so close her pants brushed the bumper. She didn't even blink; her heart was already pounding in her chest, twice as fast as her feet. The rain stung her skin like needles, tattooing it cold and numb.

It quickly got hard to see, with all the water in her eyes and some of the lights struck down by the storm. After a quick turn, Kira crashed into something and almost fell off her feet. A flash of lightning drew the outlines of a radio tower on her retina. She breathed heavily, staring at the metal tower disappearing into the sky, and felt a sudden, mad sense of rightness. Barely feeling her own fingers, she jumped up and grasped a rail.

Kira had no memory of how she reached the top, but once she did, she dropped on all fours and hit her fists against the unforgiving surface. Up here the wind was roaring, gripping all loose clothing and trying to pull her with it. Another lightning struck, so close and so bright that for several seconds, she was blind.

"Are you trying to scare me?" she yelled up to the black clouds, the void of the sky and all the possible agents of fate that might reside within it. She pulled herself up, holding onto the antenna to keep her footing. "You think you still can? I'm not afraid of anything anymore!"

The storm laughed at her with ear-shattering rumble. Kira's tears ran burning hot down her rain-battered cheeks, like hands tearing into her flesh.

"You took everything from me! Everything!" she cried out. "So come on! Bring it on! Is that the best you can d–"

The lightning emerged right above her head, shooting through the antenna into her arm. By the time she fell from the tower, she had already blacked out.