Chapter 10: Answers
Capt. Tanron finished his paper work and left his office. He went into the parking lot and to his car. As soon as he pulled out of the driveway a motorcycle started and began following him.
Tanron didn't notice it for 20 minutes, and when he finally noticed it he made an abrupt right turn down another street. He grew more suspicious as the motorcycle turned down the same road.
Just before he could do anything a large wall of rock shot out of the ground in front of his car. When it hit the wall , Tanron's car abruptly stopped and he was knocked out when he hit the steering wheel. The motorcycle pulled up to Tanron's car and stopped. The man riding it got off and took Tanron out of the car.
Another car pulled up with two people in it. The man on the motorcycle put Tanron in the car as an earth Bender came out from behind an alley and got into the car. The car pulled out of the alley and drove off in another direction the motorcycle behind.
Hours later Tanron awoke tied to a chair and a dark room. "What's going on here? When am I?". The man who wrote on the motorcycle walked up into the view of Tanron. His eyes widened as he saw who was standing in front of him.
"Officer Mako!? What the hell do you think you're doing!?".
"Something I should've done a long time ago Capt."
"Ha, you're finished kid. When I report you for this your career will be over and you'll be in the slammer".
"Really who are you going to tell ? The police" a familiar voice said behind him. Tanron slowly turned to see Lin bei Fong standing behind him.
"Chief what are you doing here?".
"I'm here to ask you a few questions Capt."
"If you people think you are going to get away with this you are insane. This is kidnapping".
"Wouldn't call it kidnapping. You were in a car accident and we just happened to give you a lift". Bolin said as he came out of the darkness and towards Tanron.
"Who on earth are you?".
"I'm a friend of the avatar's and something tells me you know something about Raiko sending police after her".
"What would I know about that?".
"Well two months ago you had me into one of the officers arrest Don Carlo and then you see tried to cover it up".
" I've been watching you for a long time Capt. There was your tuition to Lieut. school , your promotion to Capt. Someone seems to be looking out for you".
"That's what you're going chief, you're crazier than I thought. Face it you've got nothing on me".
"She might not but I do". Asami walked into cite with a strange device in hand.
"What the? Who are you and what is that thing you have?".
"My name is Asami leader of future industries and Mako's girlfriend. As for this device it's a new product were developing for the United forces. It is special interrogation instrument he be developed to interrogate prisoners and I've been meaning to test it".
Asami press a button and the device started to light up.
"Woah keep that thing away from me".
Asami brought it closer to Tanron and he began to freak out.
"Stop it! Please don't , I, Alright I'll tell you everything. It's true I'm on the payroll with a few other officers".
"What is Raiko up to?".
"Raiko knows his term is coming to an end and he can't run again. So he formulated a plan that would allow him to stay president".
"How does he plan on doing that?".
"He knows that there are number of lawmakers and other politicians that would be willing to change the law for a payment. That's why he needed Don Carlo he's the best money launder in the United Republic. He hired him to get the necessary funds to the get the necessary money to the people he needed to bribe. unfortunately Don Carlo wanted more money from him and backed off when Raiko refused to pay him".
"So that's why you had us go arrest him because he wasn't doing what Raiko paid him to do".
"Exactly, but Raiko still needed him to launder the money so he had us take him to a secure location where he's laundering the money now".
"Alright so president Raiko is bribing lawmakers and other politicians to change the law so he can stay in office. One thing still isn't clear , Tenzin said Raiko sent police and government agents after the spirits in the woods. Why would he do this?" Asami said.
"I don't know exactly why he did that ,but what I've heard is that he made some kind of deal with someone else who can help him. Apparently that person wanted spirits for some reason".
"So when Korra tried to stop him he sent us to arrest her".
"No that's not why he sent police after her and fire Lord Ursa, that just gave him an excuse to do it. He's been planning to do it for long time; because apparently this person he made a deal wants the avatar and Lord Zuko".
"Why does he want them?".
"I don't know, I don't know much about this person and quite frankly I don't want to know. Now if you're planning on doing something about Raiko you're going to need more than my word you wouldn't believe the protection this guy has around his inner circle".
Asami smiled and pressed the button on the device she was holding again. "Thank you Capt., You might not given us Raiko but you did just and your own career". She pressed another button and the device started playing everything Tanron had said.
"What? What is that thing?".
"It's a new product future industries is developing for recording what someone says".
"You tricked me!".
"That's right Capt. and you've been very helpful. Officer Mako please read Capt. Tanron his rights".
"My rights? What are you talking about?".
"We have your confession of official misconduct, taking bribes, kidnapping, corruption. Capt. Tanron you are under arrest and have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law ,you have the right to an attorney if you cannot afford one, one will be provided for you".
Mako put Tanron in the back of Lin's car and walked back up to her. " Chief where we are we going to take him. If we put him in central lockup Raiko's men will get him out in no time".
"Don't worry Mako I know a place where the men can be trusted. I'll take him there, I want you go to airtemple island and tell Tenzin about what's going on".
"Alright". Mako got onto his motorcycle while Bolin and Asami got into another car and followed him.
Miles away in the fire nation two palace guards were standing watch by the exterior gate. Both men were armed with special fire nation weapons. The weapons were specialized electric weapons that could shock someone on contact or blast them with electricity if they were within 15 feet.
The other weapons they carried were special swords handcrafted by metalbenders and firebenders. One of the men was looking around when he thought he saw something in the darkness behind a building.
"Hey I think I saw something over there I'm going to check it out". The palace guard went over to where he thought he saw movement and looked around. He looked around behind the building and in the alley but didn't see anything.
"Strange I thought I saw something". The guard walked back to his post as the sun began to rise. Inside the palace Korra woke up with the spirits still around her. She slowly got up and got dressed. She was about to leave the room when there was a knock on the door. She opened it and saw a handmaiden standing there.
"Avatar Korra breakfast is ready".
"Thanks a telling me". Korra follow the handmaiden to the dining room where Ursa, her parents, Bumi, Jason , and his lieutenant were already sitting down.
"There you are good morning Korra".
"Good morning Ursa, are you and Bumi feeling any better?".
"A lot better actually some of the herbs we have here certainly helped".
Korra sat down next to Jason as several of the palace servants brought them their food. Breakfast was composed of eggs, chicken-pig bacon , a little fruit, and some juice. At the began to eat Korra noticed that someone else was at the table, Iroh.
" Iroh he made it out of the United Republic, it's good to see you again".
"It's good to see you to Korra, when I heard Raiko sent the police to arrest you and my family I was going to have a word with him. Lucky for me one of my officers told me that Reiko was sending police into the base".
"Who's in charge of the United Forces now that you're here?".
"My second in command Admiral Young".
"Young that pathetic excuse for an officer is now in charge?" Jason said.
"I'm not thrilled about it either Jason. Young is just another one of Raiko's lackeys".
"That's what we need to talk about today, Raiko is up to something and we need to find out what he's up to".
After they finished breakfast Ursa began to discuss their situation with Raiko. "So we know Raiko has taken a number of spirits captive and tried to arrest us when Korra and Jason stopped his men from taking the rest prisoner".
"I always thought Raiko was looking out for his own agenda what happened to trip to, but what does he want with these spirits?" Iroh said.
"It's important we find out, so for now I think our best course of action is to get in contact with Tenzin. He still has friends in the government so he might be able to give us some information about what's going on in Raiko's inner circle" Bumi said.
"That's a pretty good idea, but I don't think the spirits are going to like us just sitting here doing nothing while Raiko holds their friends prisoner" Korra said.
"She's right I don't think it's a good idea to leave those spirits in his hands".
"Well we could try to free them, but it would be very risky. We have to send a special forces team deep into the capital of the United Republic. Right in the heart of Raiko's power. And that's assuming we find out where he's holding them".
"Wait a minute what about general Trok?" Jason said.
"That's right Trok".
"Who's Trok?".
" Brigadier General Trok; he's in charge of holding dangerous benders and criminals that are too much for the prison system" Bumi said.
"I'm pretty sure Raiko would want Trok's men and security holding those spirits. Trok and I were close friends before this happened. It's a long shot but I might be able to get him to give us some information".
"Well the spirits will certainly be happy to know where at least trying to get their fellows spirits back".
"Iroh I still got plenty of military genius left and this head, why don't you let me give you a hand in planning this operation".
"Sounds good Bumi".
"Alright I'll ask General Threnold to help you two plan the mission" Ursa said.
"Once it's planned out let me know. I'm going to tell the spirits". Korra was in the palace garden with the spirits that came with her and several of the spirits that she had helped move into the fire nation a few months ago.
"So general Iroh and Bumi are going to come up with a plan to free the other spirits. Once it's all planned out I will personally lead the operation".
"At last something is being done" One of the spirits said.
"Avatar Korra I would like to help free my fellow spirits". The Wolf-lion spirit said.
"I don't know if that's such a good idea, Raiko tried to capture you guys once already. Having you go back just seems a little too risky".
"But we can handle ourselves avatar Korra I promise you we won't get ourselves captured".
"These spirits are our kin we only wish to help them".
"Alright I'll tell Iroh to include you guys in the plan". She got up and went to tell Iroh about the spirits. After informing Iroh and Bumi she ran into Jason.
"Korra you aren't doing anything are you?".
"Not at the moment why?".
"I was wondering if you wanted to go out for dinner ".
"That sounds great of course I'll go".
Later that night Korra and Jason were at a renowned restaurant in the capital city. Both of them were kneeling down at the table as the waiter brought them their food. Korra had a bowl of noodles and some rice with battered shrimp mixed in. Jason had thin, yellow noodles served pig-chicken slices.
Korra was wearing a fire nation styled outfit with her hair redone with a single fire nation hair clip. Jason was wearing civilian clothes also in fire nation styled, it'd been the first time Korra saw him wearing something that wasn't military.
"You know after all those years of being cooped up in the South pole must've been nice to go out and see the world".
"You don't know the half of it, being able to go to so many different places and see so many different cultures with something I had wanted for a long time. Seeing all the cultures behind each form of bending and helping the spirits readjust to living in the physical world really helped me get in touch with my spiritual side".
"I'll bet it did, but how many spirits wanted to come here and how many more are going to?".
"I really don't know. I guess all I can do for now is keep helping the spirits as they come".
" Is that what you want to do for the rest of your life".
"Not really, sometimes I wish people could take care of their own problems without the help of the avatar. I mean I know I'm the avatar and it's my duty to help the people of the world but".
"You're still a person with your own life".
"Exactly, I know the other avatars managed to find time to have their own lives but I just can't see how. I guess I can't complain too much, it was really good to see the world. Not to mention being the avatar gets you pretty good treatment no matter where you go. But after three years of nonstop traveling and avatar reception it would be nice to have some time off".
"There's nothing wrong with wanting that Korra. Like I said even if you are the avatar your still a person".
"Thanks for understanding Jason, but I think I'm focusing too much on myself again aren't I".
"It's alright Korra".
"Well I'd like to know more about your life Jason".
"Well if you want to know more about my career before I transferred to the fire nation military I could tell you". Jason told Korra all about his experiences in the United forces, from his basic training to the liberation of Republic city from the equallists.
" Ha , ha tell me again about that Ryop guy" Korra said laughing.
"Okay, private Ryop or private Lard as Staff Sgt. Chang called him ,would always make things interesting in the barracks. God he was just so fat, every day Sgt Chang would scream at him when he was falling behind in physical training".
"You'd think with all that physical training might lose some weight" Korra said.
"We were all thinking the same thing, so was Sgt Chang. Then one day Sgt Chang checked Ryop's footlocker and found cream filled cakes and doughnuts. You should have seen Sgt Chang he was so mad his entire face turned red and fire came out of his mouth as he screamed".
"I'm guessing he was a fire bender".
"Yeah, and it was priceless seeing Chang unleash on Ryop. Chang made him run the base perimeter until he passed out. Then he screamed at him until he woke up and then made him keep running".
"That must've sucked".
"Yeah and after that private Ryop had to get everything he ate directly from Sgt. Chang. If anyone caught him eating something that wasn't given to him by Sgt Chang he would have to run the base perimeter 10 times".
"So did he managed to make it past basic training?".
"Barely but yeah, last I heard he's a corporal working in a recruitment office in Tain".
"So Jason why didn't you try to become an officer in the United forces?".
"Well I did apply for the academy but I couldn't get in. So I thought I'd enlist and try to apply for officer candidate school. After we liberated Republic city and I did my part I thought I would have everything I need to get into officer candidate school. That was when general Iroh contacted me and said the fire nation Army would let me into their officer candidate school. I think you know the rest from there".
"Dear parents still live in Republic city?".
"Nah they moved back to the north pole when I transferred to the fire nation Army. I still try to see them what I can".
"I hope I can meet them someday".
"And I hope I can meet your parents".
After they finished dinner Jason paid the bill and the two started walking down the streets of the capital. "So do you want to head back to the palace?".
"Not yet , you took me out to dinner . Now I want to take you somewhere special". Korra led Jason towards the outskirts of the city and to a small path.
"Where are we going?".
"It's a surprise". After another few minutes of walking they reached their destination. Korra had taken Jason to series of small springs with vegetation and other plants growing all around them. Small furry animals were moving about the springs with small turtle ducks swimming in the springs".
"What is this place is beautiful".
"You haven't seen anything yet".
When the last of the clouds faded away in the moonlight came in, the water lit up with white light from the moon illuminating the entire springs. When the moonlight lit up the springs several spirits came out into the springs.
"The last time I came to the fire nation capital I found this place and thought it would be a good place for some of the spirits to live. Most of them only come out in the moonlight though".
"Well it's amazing thanks for showing me this".
"korra and Jason rested against one of the springs and watched as a spirit floated over a few turtle ducklings and brushed the tops of their heads.
"Do you think we should get back soon, they're probably wondering where we are".
"We can stay a little longer how bad could it be".
Korra rested her head on Jason's shoulder as they watched the spirits move over the water. "You know this almost makes you forget all that's happening with Raiko".
"Yeah it's nice to have some time away from the troubles of the world". Korra put her arms around Jason shoulders and kissed him under the moonlight.
Author's note:
Another chapter completed, I hope you enjoy. Please leave reviews or suggestions for future chapters