ADH- Well, another new chapter, after the big twist last chapter, how could this get even more crazy... well, let's see.
PipTook- This one is my favorite. I had fun writing my parts of it. I hope you enjoy it.
Mako watched as his friend mulled over her thoughts. He had brought her some noodles and soup as she sat alone in the break room. Now, she was now just playing with them. He had heard the one-eyed man threaten her. The detective did not have to ask her how she felt about it. Korra seemed to be slightly shaken up from it still.
"Hey, are you alright?" he asked anyways.
Her head popped up. There were bags under her eyes from lack of sleep and her brow was knotted. She looked as though she did not sleep well in the room she was given. Korra refused to leave the jail as long as Hattori was in a cell.
"You can't let him get to you. You said it yourself. His mind is corrupted by that... Shadow Spirit." Mako said.
"Like he got to you?" Korra snapped back before instantly regretting her words, "Sorry, Mako. I just cannot let his threats slide."
"At least he did not call you jail bait." Mako said as he joined her at the table, "I called Asami to come get you. Go get some sleep, Korra. I can handle him."
"I'm not leaving."
Mako leaned forward to take her free hand in his. The Avatar set her chopsticks down to take his other hand. Her thumb rubbed over his scarred hand as she stared at it.
"Korra, you can't be stressing over this. Chief and I will be fine here."
They both looked up towards the door. Asami had stopped at the doorway and cleared her throat to announce herself to them. Their reactions were humoring to her. The duo's eyes widen and they sat back in their chairs. Mako cleared his throat and began to apologize for what it might have looked like. Korra slammed back too hard and fell backwards. She then waved with a goofy grin on her face.
"Hey Asami."
"Even in the face of danger, you can still pull off that goofy smile." Asami smiled back as she laughed, "Are you ready to go?"
Still lying on her back, Korra responded, "I'm not going home. There are so many reasons why I can't."
The Avatar's girlfriend gave Mako a concerned look, "You can't go home because of a murderer?"
Korra nodded, still lying on the floor.
"It's... crazier than it sounds." Mako noted as he leaned over the table to steal Korra's noodles, "This guy is some kind of spirit thing in a dead man's body. I feel like I should be watching one of Varrick's movers."
The young Sato walked in. She stopped so she could look down upon the fallen Avatar. "Do you need help up?"
Korra's face went a bit red as she stared up at her girlfriend, "Nope. I'm actually comfortable right here. Can you lean over just a bit more?"
A gagging sound came from the other end of the table. Mako stopped to pull out the noodle that was close to choking him.
"I'd rather not see any mushy stuff from you both." He then pouted, "Please?"
"Are you alright over there, City Boy?"
"I'm just choking over your noodles, Avatar."
The firebender heard her attempt to jump up, only to see the table jolt from her head crashing into it and a hand slip from the table.
"Those are mine." Korra said as she finally peeked over the edge of the table.
Asami stood glancing in between the two of them. She was slightly confused as to what was going on. She was confused enough that the scene before her made her curious and she considered skipping a meeting and joining them. Alas, she really could not afford to.
"So, I guess I'll be going then?"
"Sorry for interrupting your day, Asami. Your girlfriend is stubborn sometimes."
"I am not." Korra gave the firebender a glare. She then smiled for Asami, "Thank you anyways. I love you."
"Right, love you too Korra. Mako, keep her safe, would you? I'm beginning to feel like today is going to get worse."
The detective gave her a three finger salute before taking another bite of the Avatar's breakfast.
After a much needed nap, the Avatar needed to try and persuade Hattori to reconsider his deal with the spirit. She commandeered the police station's kitchen and made a meal of dumplings and noodles for the man-thing... Korra was not quite sure what she wanted to call him, but man-thing certainly was not the phrase she was going to stick with.
Naturally, Mako wanted to come. She told him to just sit by and make sure no one else got into the way of Hattori. Besides, his black eye was starting to look a bit better than before. She would feel guilty if he managed to get another.
Korra brought a bucket of water with her as well. If she somehow was able to convince him to let her do this, she felt she needed it to clear the spirit away. As she entered Hattori's solidarity wing, the sounds of her uneasy breathing and the water sloshing around filled the hall. As she reached his cell, she nodded to the guards before speaking.
"Good afternoon, Hattori. Are you hungry? I brought you a homemade meal." She said trying to hide her nervousness.
Hattori, currently chained down to the ground and walls much more than before, looked at her. "Oh, well that's very kind of you. Now, if only I could use my hands!" He noted clearly annoyed by the guards.
"After what happened with the prisoner and how you broke free while in interrogation, we're not taking any more risks." One guard said pointing his finger at him to which Hattori looked with his one-eye deadpan.
"... When I get out of here, I'm gonna rip that finger off and shove it up his ass..." He muttered before smiling at Korra. "Anyways, thanks Avatar Korra... or is it just Korra... or Sexy Water Tribe Lady Avatar?"
Korra cleared her throat after giving them all a strange look, "Korra will do... just Korra. Now, unlike the guards here, I'll be a bit nice and readjust the chains on you so you can actually eat."
She set the meal and bucket down and flicked one of the bindings further up his arm so he would reach out with his hand. She would then move the plate towards him.
"Thanks." Hattori said, using the one hand to take the chopsticks and began eating the dumplings, nodding his head in approval. "Not bad, not bad at all. Just like my dad used to make 'em... Well, Grandfather, you know Hattori Hanzo the VII."
"Of course. You briefly spoke of him earlier." She smiled as she made a seat for herself from the stone floor, "And I'm glad you like the dumplings. I made them myself. Not many people can claim they've had the Avatar cook for them."
"Not many can also come back from the dead so easily too." Hattori smiled still eating along with starting on the noodles. "Now, as kind as this is, May I ask what you're doing here after, you know, threatening to kill you if you tried stopping me."
Her tone from pleasantries to business, "I have known you for a short time, but in that time, I know you can somehow read thoughts."
She leaned forward. Her hands rested on her knees as she studied him.
"I am going to ask you again to please stop this mission of revenge. Revenge is not the answer. Let me help you find peace within your soul. Please?"
Hattori saw in her eyes she really did want to help, but shrugged as much as he could due to being chained up and resumed eating.
"Sorry, but I'm gonna escape and finish off those last four. Then...? Well, I don't know. Maybe I'll retire to Ba Sing Se. Perhaps near a nice lake or maybe I will just keep wandering and going about my way. Nothing against ya', but I vowed to get revenge. I had everything I cared for taken away. From those I considered friends. If you had someone do something bad to you, something REALLY bad, wouldn't you want revenge?"
The Avatar looked away, "It came across my mind when I faced Zaheer. He and his friends poisoned me and left me in a state that I would not wish on anyone. It would have been so easy to just end his life for putting me in a wheelchair for almost a year. I understand what it's like to lose something important to you."
She paused to fight a tear from the memory, "But revenge? Revenge festers and lingers in you. It makes you feel guilty afterwards like something deep down is eating at you. So when I faced him, I accepted what happened but I chose to not forgive him. You can do that too."
Hattori shook his head. "Not the same. You were just crippled, physically and by the sounds of things, mentally too?" He asked to which Korra nodded. "Right, well with me, I was beaten, forced to watch my family be murdered, then set alight while I got a piece of shrapnel to the face and drowned. I got a damn good reason." He explained before eating some noodles.
"Plus, I also found out that my whole life was a lie. The people, nice and kind mind you, I thought were my parents weren't and that I was a byproduct of a violent gang rape, one done to the greatest Earthbender in the world. Of course I would be pissed and wanting to see all the scum of the world die."
His words crushed her. She shook her head, "Not the same..." A flash of anger crossed her face, "Do you know what it's like to have to depend on others for the simplest of things? Or watch helplessly as a major part of who you are is ripped from you? I'm not saying that losing the Avatar's past lives is in anyway close to losing a wife and child, but it is still painful. I lost a part of who I was."
She then stood, "Or how about growing up in a compound for most of your life out of fear that someone wanted to kidnap you and corrupt you? We all have our moments of weakness, but you can't let that corrupt you into doing the same."
"Hum..." Hattori said giving the words some consideration before looking up. "... did you know... WOW, what's his name? You know, face sliced off, man, how did i forget? Anyway, he wasn't my first victim... Oh, he was always gonna be the first... Till I got a good look at the three men who raped my mom..." He said eye glowing red, but it looked calmer than ever. "Frankly, I was surprised they were still alive when I found them..."
Korra sat down again, slouching over on her elbows. Her brow scrunched together as she listened to what he was saying.
"Still in the Fire Nation, oh, they stopped their games... But they still liked to brag about the past. I'm surprised they never tried revealing the truth. Frankly, I think they knew not doing so would be better to hurt mom..." Hattori explained, eating more. "But then they saw me in the same bar they were in. They didn't know who I was. They just saw I was focused on them. They tried being tough and told me to fuck off... One tried pushing me back... So I pushed him back into his own shadow."
As he told this, he couldn't help but give a wicked smile, one not influenced by the Shadow Spirit. "Whatever the shadows did to him, it was messy as all that came back other than blood was an ear... I think a hand too."
Korra breathed in deeply and let it out slowly. She looked conflicted still and let the silence continue for a bit longer before speaking. "Can I ask you something?"
"Shoot."
"What does death feel like?" She paused to let out a nervous chuckle, "One like the one you experienced?"
To say Hattori was surprised, would be a hell of an understatement.
"Death? Like dying?... Well, like I'm sure the Shadow Spirit said, it depends. All I remember was getting hit and set on fire before everything went black. Then... just darkness as thoughts rang through my mind... But of all the suffering I caused indirectly... including my family's deaths. It kept playing like a mover over and over as I was stuck there." He said drinking the broth of the noodles.
"Now, coming back to life was different, like getting a giant jolt to the heart and then slammed back into the hard stone wall called reality. In my case, I was still in the water, so I also had to swim up to the surface too." He said, noticing the guards look at him as he put down the broth. "I'm not doing anything, you fucks!" he said, his eye on them.
She nodded and stood up again. Korra moved to the opposing wall before dismissing the guards. She received looks of disbelief but if Hattori was telling the truth, she knew that she had to protect them should the man decide to break out.
"There was no moment of peace?"
"Well, where I was, yes. It was my own little personal hell. I know my family is... Well, I'm sure they are in a good place. I doubt I'm gonna go there when I die... again, with my track record. But hey, just me thinking here... Why? That's an odd questions coming from the Avatar."
She closed her eyes and rested her head upon the wall. The cool stone felt calming as she felt herself heating up from being nervous around him.
"I know you are going to break out of here, whether it's moments from now or a week. I also know that I cannot allow you to leave. You also told me that you would paint the city red with my blood if I got in the way. I just want to be prepared for the worst. I can feel that my attempts to talk you out of this are waning."
"How do you know? For all you know, it could be working..." Hattori assured before a beat. "... I mean, it's not, but nice to see someone being nice to me here. Now, what was I saying? Oh yeah; my three possible dads." Hattori started eating more noodles. "Oh, these are good... Now, they were clearly freaked out, but still tried to fight for some spirits forsaken reason. One tried to slam me with a wooden chair, holding it by the pegs. I just jumped back and kicked it back, hard enough to make the said peg go into his eye and out the back of the head. It's not as messy as you would think. The last guy tried escaping but I grabbed him and looked into his eyes..." He said before thinking of something.
"Now, odd thing is before I killed him, by ripping his heart out mind you, I looked into his eyes... They were hazel... like mine. But I didn't care if he was my dad or not... I just wanted him dead. Alas, those were the first three murders I committed."
"Three more people," Korra randomly said, "You have three more people on your list. I figured out your next target and Hiroshi Sato has been dead for the past two years. He died so Asami could live."
That perked up Hattori's ears, making him tilt his head. "... bearbullshit, really?... And you didn't tell me this when you first got in 'cause?"
"It took me a night of thinking to figure out who your next target would be and Asami was supposed to take me home so I could sleep away from here." She turned glaring at him, "She's not on your list too, is she?"
"Oh, NO, nonono... I was... Well, using her to be honest." Hattori said seeing her glare. "I never had any intention to hurting her... Her father was my best friend... Course, he didn't have a hand in killing me, but it still pissed me off... Looking back, I can understand why he would have done that. I'm sure he regretted it too... But man, if I knew this, I wouldn't have followed her."
Her glare softened and she leaned back on the wall. She looked deep in thought again as she ran a hand through her hair. Korra was now out of things to say to him but she was still hesitant on using the bucket of water on him to get rid of the evil spirit.
"... Well... That all?" Was all Hattori asked, his eye slightly flicking up as he noticed something.
She nodded before looking back at him, "I having nothing else to ask you. I know where our paths go from here."
"Smart gal... Smart gal indeed... Just so you know; you're a good person. Maybe the best I've known and a good cook." Hattori smiled an almost assuring one. "But I just found target number six."
He finished before raising his hand up using it to bend a ram of sorts against Korra, slamming her against a wall as bended a shadow tentacle to slice his chains off. The guards quickly entered the cell only for Hattori to clothesline both of them to knock them out, looking in the direction of what he seen before looking at Korra.
"Also, tell my sister I said 'Hi.'" he said before starting to leave.
The Avatar was slow to get up. The unexpected hit left her in a slight daze and she knew she had a cut on her face from hitting the wall. Suddenly, she was forced up and saw that both Mako and Lin was shouting something at her. Her wits returned to her and she dashed after the serial killer, leaving the two, who soon followed her.
Some of the stone walls around Hattori began to jut out at him as he ran. He knew Korra was close by now. He also knew that she was being careful about tearing the jail apart, lest she let someone out by mistake. Then a stone wall stopped him in his tracks. He could hear the Avatar's shouts before he used the shadows in the cell near him to vanish and move around the wall. He looked back to see the Tribeswoman crash through her stone wall. She was ever so eager to stop him. He had to respect her for that. She was not quitting on her promise.
The chase continued through the jail until he was able to find the evidence room. He grinned as he walked in.
"There you are..." he said to himself, not to attract attention.
The lights went out. Korra held a flame in her hand as she searched the room for him. She had to wipe her forehead to get some of the blood out of her vision. It seemed like she forgot to breathe for a moment before a sword was swung at her. She reacted by bending backwards and away from the blade. When she regained her balance, she ripped the blade from Hattori's hand and made sure to break it into pieces. She then sent the shards back at him. He vanished before reappearing to her right.
"Motherfu-, MY GRANDFATHER MADE THAT FOR ME!" he called out in anger before swinging at her with his fist.
The Avatar managed to duck and avoid his first wave of punches. Sensing that the shelving in the room was metal, Korra reached out for them and brought them in, intending to smash Hattori. She heard a gruff of air before he came into her vision again. Korra moved another set of shelving in front of her before watching the shadows rip it from her.
She sent out a wave of fire, allowing the light to help her locate him again. Hattori aimed to hit her with an uppercut. Korra rolled in between his legs. He soon let out a cry of pain as Korra had stretched out after leaving her roll, kicking his knees out from him. She went to pounce when he caught her in the stomach with both of his feet, pushing her back into the wall.
His second barrage of attacks was countered until she felt something grab her right arm. A flame appeared in her left hand and before she would get out of the shadow's grasp, Hattori grabbed the first three fingers on her right hand and crushed them before pushing them backwards onto the backside of her hand hard enough to break them as Korra let out a scream from the sudden pain.
The shadow form then pulled and dislocated her arm from its socket before pushing her back into the wall. As the shadow man stepped forward, Korra let out a grimace of pain before her mouth erupted with flame. Hattori felt his beard and some of his face catch on fire as he screamed in pain. Then he ran from the room before she could send another set of shelving his way.
She struggled to get up, using the wall as an aid. She held her right shoulder tightly.
"Oh, this is going to hurt..." She muttered before pushing it against the wall, making her give another pained scream as it popped back in.
The room was still dark when Mako busted the door open. Several guards stood behind him.
"Where is he?" Mako asked as he turned the lights on, "You look horrible."
Korra tried to smile as she walked over to him, "I'm fine. It's just a flesh wound. We need to find Hattori. He's searching for his next target and I think this person is in here."
"Korra, you have fingers that are about to fall off your hand!"
She then put her good hand on the floor to use the city's spiritual energy to track him down again. She cringed as her broken hand fell to the floor but she could not let up now.
"Follow me." She said as she started at a slow run. Her right arm was being supported again.
The guards gave Mako looks of disbelief as the firebender took off to follow again. If the Avatar was even harmed by the homely man, what could they be able to do?
Korra rounded a corner. The cell he was after was in sight. As she reached it, a shower of red was thrown out from the cell. The Avatar turned away as she was hit by the bloody mess that was Hattori's target. The serial killer let out a dark laugh before disappearing into the night. The last thing they saw was his lone red eye. Korra sighed before cringing again. She then looked at her blood covered hand. Next thing she knew, Mako was holding her up from hitting the ground.
Asami was violently woken up when she heard a window crash in. She grabbed her robe and her electric glove before pulling her hair back and searching for the cause of the noise. That's when she found Korra and Mako in her washroom. A bloodied and battered Korra was sitting back against the wall while Mako tended to her hand. The detective had carried Korra to the mansion. The Avatar had then stubbornly lifted them up on a pillar of earth to the window.
Mako's uniform jacket was stained from where the prisoner's blood had covered Korra and there was also a wrinkled spot from where she grasped onto his jacket.
"I still think you should see a doctor, Korra." Mako scolded.
"What happened?" Asami asked. "Can I bring anything?"
"I want a tub of water." Korra said as she cringed with pain, "And something to wrap my hand up in. I have to find this guy tonight."
Mako shook his head, "No way. You need to rest. You have three broken fingers and an open wound on your head, Korra. You really are in no shape to fight him."
"Just find me something to wrap my hand up in."
The inventor focused on getting the large tub filled with water as her friends argued some more. She was not sure on how warm Korra wanted the water so she made sure to fill the tub with lukewarm water. When she turned, Mako had somehow managed to talk Korra out of her shirt and boots. Asami sighed with relief when she saw that most of the blood on her girlfriend had not come from her. She knelt to help the injured Avatar and the firebender take Korra's trousers off.
Mako tossed the items away before he was forced out by Asami.
After some time and a cup of tea with Mako, Asami returned to the washroom. Korra was leaning on the side of the tub with her injured arm resting on the rim of the tub. She was in a blue undershirt and shorts. The broken fingers looked to be wrapped tightly, probably at her own doing. Her face was hidden under her good arm but the stained bandage was visible. Asami knelt by the tub and gently placed a hand on her girlfriend's shoulder.
"Korra," she said softly, "Are you hungry?"
She watched as the Tribeswoman's head shifted. Her blue eyes met green as Korra took her hand in her uninjured one. Asami assumed that the waterbender had been healing her arm and face by the bags under her eyes.
"I'm good. The painkillers you gave me are setting in finally. I think I fell asleep." Korra smiled slightly, "Well, they're helping a bit. I wish that I had waited to reset the bones myself."
Asami cringed at the thought, "Are you sure you don't want to see a doctor? They can properly cast them."
"I'll just light it on fire when I face Hattori again. It's better if I do it this way."
The Avatar then sat up on her knees. She leaned over more to catch Asami's lips. The engineer reacted by placing her hands on either side of Korra's face.
"Join me? I can reheat the water and there should be no blood in here. I refilled it earlier."
Asami nodded as she kissed the Avatar again, "You had me at 'join me.'"
Mako sat out in a meeting room by himself. He looked at his watch noting that it was taking Asami a long time to check up on Korra. He finished his tea and sat back into the seat a bit more. He tapped the sofa's arm with a finger for another few minutes before leaving the room. He headed down to the washroom and found that the door was locked. His ear pressed against the door. He sighed and decided that he was just going to go home. Asami had everything under control and Korra seemed to be doing better.
The detective made sure to take the dirty dishes down to the kitchen. He informed a few of the house workers that Asami probably did not need anything else before getting a ride home.
Over in another part of Republic City far from the prison, Hattori burst from the shadows in an alleyway sighing in anger. He wasn't on fire anymore but the burning still hurt as he looked in a nearby window at his face. He looked like a part or two on one side of his beard was burned off as was a couple patches of his long hair. He also noticed that the area around his eye and ear wound looked burnt and charred, along with some minor redness from the fire.
"Oh, that's fucking delightful..." Hattori said to himself as he looked in. "... getting set on fire AGAIN..." He said before he saw his reflection seem to change, seeing it more shadowy looking with the red eye.
"Can't catch a break, can ya'?" The Shadow Spirit spoke in the mirror.
"Seems not. I will give the Avatar this; she's not one to go down easy. She broke my katana." Hattori responded back.
"Regardless of how powerful she is, she won't stop you. If you were able to easily deal with her without killing her, she'll never be a problem."
"Well, never say never."
"Funny..." The Shadow Spirit droned. "Well, must say that was quite a messy kill you did back there."
"Didn't have any weapons so I let the ol' Shadowbending do its work." Hattori responded still looking at his hair as the Spirit did the same. "Only problem is now they know what I look like. I mean, look at me."
"... You can just alter your appearance, trim down the hair and such?" The Shadow Spirit responded before Hattori gave a deadpan laugh.
"Oh heh heh heh, not like I could just go into a barber shop and ask for a trim. They'd report me." he said before he saw the Shadow Spirit point down to which Hattori looked and saw a straight razor in a nearby dumpster.
"Will that do?"
Hattori picked up the blade and looked at it. "Looks to be in good condition... Well, it's gonna suck doing this without shaving cream..." He said before raising the blade to his hair.
Moments later, Hattori cut the last piece of hair on his head, only managed to nick himself twice. Not bad as he looked at himself. His long hair now cut into a small mohawk and his beard now a small goatee.
"That'll do..." he said before looking at the eye and ear burns, seeing that the remaining burnt flesh was barely holding on.
"Well..." He said before feeling it with his free hand cringing in pain at the touch before closing his one good eye before grabbing the burnt flesh and ripped off, screaming in pain at it.
"FUCKING FUCK!" he cried out, looking back into the mirror, seeing that without the flesh where his wounds was now charred and broken bone, now looking undead.
"Think that look suits you." The Shadow Spirit smiled, nodding as Hattori just looked before .putting the hood on his jacket over his head so his wounds on his face would be covered in shadows. He then looked at the razor.
"Might keep this." Hattori said, pocketing the blade before leaving.
