Chapter 11 - Coffee and Pie, but no Answers
Bolin guided his jalopy through the streets of the city. Korra sat in the passenger seat next to him, enjoying the evening air. They were making their way to a diner that both Bolin and Asami knew. Asami was taking her own car and would meet them there.
"Do you mind if I invite my brother to join us?" Bolin asked.
Korra started out of her reverie. "Huh? No, I don't mind. The more the merrier. It'll be nice to meet him."
"It's just, I don't like to think of how Opal would react to me going out with two beautiful women."
Korra tamped down a smile. "Bo, I said it was fine. You don't need to explain. Although, I think you should take Kuvira's advice. Stop worrying about your friend getting jealous about innocent things. I mean, has your Opal ever acted jealous about you just being friendly with other women?"
"Well, no," he said hesitantly.
"So trust her good sense and don't borrow trouble." Korra picked her next words carefully. "So I'm still not exactly clear what the situation is between you and Opal. Is there some sort of … understanding?"
Bolin sighed. "No. We haven't even dated. She says she likes me, but she doesn't know if she likes me that way."
"Hmmm."
Bolin glanced over. "'Hmmm?' What does that mean, 'Hmmm?'"
Korra raised her hands. "It means that it's not a 'No' but it really isn't a 'Yes' either. Beyond that, I got nothing."
Bolin sighed again. "Yeah, me neither."
They arrived at the diner first. Korra got a table while Bolin went to phone his brother. "Should I give Kuvira a call and ask her as well?" he asked as he headed for the pay-phone in the back.
"I wouldn't," Korra said. "The way she was talking about her own date tonight, I think it'd be taking your life into your own hands to interrupt her." She decided against mentioning that if Kuvira showed up, it would partly undo his efforts to reduce the ratio of girls to boys.
Bolin pulled a face. "Good point," he said, and disappeared into the phone booth.
Bolin was still on the phone and Korra had just ordered coffee when Asami arrived. She sat down opposite Korra, closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and said "Much better."
No matter how good this diner was, Korra was pretty sure it wasn't the food and drink that prompted the remark. "Fed up with crowds, for the night?"
Asami nodded. "And with standing." The waitress arrived at the table, set down four cups, and filled two for Korra and Asami. "Four?" Asami asked. "Is Bolin a two fisted drinker?"
"He's inviting his brother to join us. He lives nearby, I guess."
"The police detective, right?" Asami's tone was completely normal, but an odd look had flashed across her face, so briefly that Korra wasn't completely sure she had seen it.
"So I gather. I hope it's not a problem."
She could almost see Asami consider and discard the option of brushing off the question. Instead, after a pause, the woman answered "You might not know this, but my father is in prison for bank-rolling a criminal organization."
"No, I didn't know."
Asami shrugged and gave her an apologetic smile. "So my memories of dealing with the police aren't really pleasant ones. But that's unfair. This is a social occasion, and Yin's always spoken highly of him."
Bolin came back to the table at that point, and the topic was dropped by mutual consent. Maybe confessing her worries had been all Asami needed, because she now seemed completely relaxed. When Bolin's brother arrived, she gave him a warm smile and said "It's good to meet you. And I'm sorry in advance, but I'll get in trouble if I don't say this. Call your grandmother."
Bolin and Mako had both laughed, and the latter had blushed slightly. Korra was glad of the distraction, because she was the one in danger of losing her composure at the young detective's arrival. She immediately recognized him as the one she had seen help the Ghost get access to the crime scene just the week before.
"I thought you'd be a bit more of a fan of the Avatar, considering she saved your boss's life." Bolin was starting to raise his voice.
"I'm not saying she hasn't done good things. I'm just saying how far can you trust someone you don't know anything about?" Mako answered. He wasn't getting louder, but judging from his tone of voice, his patience was starting to fray.
"You don't know anything about the Ghost, but you seem fine with trusting her."
Korra wasn't exactly sure how the conversation had turned into a debate about the relative merits of Republic City's two masked crime-fighters. Asami certainly hadn't shown any interest in the topic, and Korra had made a futile attempt to subtly steer talk in a different direction.
Mako was in favor of the Ghost. Unsurprising, given his association with her, but that wasn't something Korra could bring up, even if she had wanted to weigh in on the argument. Bolin was squarely in her corner, which was at least gratifying. But again, it wasn't really something she could acknowledge.
Both men at times sounded like they were laboring under a crush for their respective chosen champions. Which would have been amusing, if the general trend of the conversation wasn't so depressing. Mako's points tended to echo Korra's own insecurities. Bolin, while passionate, didn't really have a strong counter-argument.
"As I recall," Asami broke in, "when the Ghost first came on the scene, everybody said that she was insane. Possibly dangerously so. At least that was what was in all the papers."
"I guess so," Mako said. He looked a bit sheepish. Bolin muttered agreement, not looking any more comfortable.
"I hadn't moved here yet," Korra said. "Back home most people think everyone in the big city is crazy, so I'm not sure she got it any worse than the rest of you, once the news went world-wide."
Asami twitched a smile at her before continuing. "So is she less crazy now than she used to be? Or has everyone just got used to her particular brand of crazy in the past three years?"
"So you think we should give the Avatar more of a chance?" Mako said.
Asami shrugged. "I don't really think it matters whether the likes of us give her a chance or not. She'll do what she does regardless. I guess I'm saying, ask me again in three years what I think of her."
The sound of sirens from the street rose over the conversation. They all fell silent and looked out the diner window as a convoy of fire engines roared past. Mako broke the silence with a curse, which Korra felt summed up her own feelings as well. He stood and laid some Yuans on the table. "I'd better check in on this. They might not have a detective on the scene yet."
Bolin got up as well. "I'll give you a ride. My boss will expect me on the scene as well."
Mako paused for a moment in the process of pulling on his overcoat, but then gave his brother a nod. "Thanks."
"You two be OK?" Bolin asked.
"I've got my car," Asami said.
"It's OK, Bo. Take care," Korra added, giving him a nod.
"Sorry to break up the evening this way," he said following Mako to the diner's front door.
The two women sat in silence for a moment. Korra felt twitchy, sitting still doing nothing when she knew there was another fire out there, but she didn't have an excuse to leave like the guys did. Even so, she couldn't suppress a flash of disappointment when Asami said, "He's right. That really did kind of break up the evening."
"Yeah. It does kind of feel strange kind of strange sitting here with, well, you know." Korra shrugged.
"All that going on," Asami finished for her gesturing in the direction Mako and Bolin had gone.
"Should we go?" She asked. Asami nodded, and the two of them set about figuring out how to split the check.
Outside of the diner, Korra fancied she could smell smoke in the air. "Can I drop you at home?" Asami asked.
Korra was tempted to say yes, but the sooner the two separated, the sooner she could get in uniform and on the scene. "I don't want to put you to the trouble. Besides, I live off that way." She pointed in the direction the fire engines had gone. "Probably best to keep the streets clear."
Asami nodded, but then said "I'm parked a couple of blocks down that way too."
Korra smiled. "Well, then I can walk you to your car." Surely, grabbing that much extra time was all right, she thought. Asami smiled back and the two started down the sidewalk.
After a moment's silence, Korra said "Mako had some good points, but the way he made them kind of made me want to punch him."
Asami laughed. "He has that effect on people."
Korra frowned in puzzlement for a moment. "How do you know that? Oh, of course. His grandmother."
"Yin tells a lot of stories about the family," Asami said. She was blushing for some reason. Korra reflected that her new friend might be attracted to the young detective. It was an oddly disappointing thought. "You've got a bit more sympathy toward our new mystery woman, I take it?" Asami asked, breaking in on Korra's reflections.
"I guess," Korra said, picking her words carefully. "I don't suppose I'd do any better a job than she does."
"Good point. It's too easy to second guess." She seemed strangely somber as she said it.
Korra cast about for something to lighten the mood again. "You know, it's not surprising Mako and Bolin took the sides they did. If Mako became a masked crime fighter, he would totally be the type to brood mysteriously in dark alleys. And Bolin, he'd be the loud unsubtle one, complete with the light show."
Asami laughed hard, and Korra grinned at the sight. "Oh dear," Asami said, wiping her eyes. "Now, I've got an image stuck in my head of Mako and Bolin donning falsies to go out and fight crime."
"Eww. Thank you for sharing."
"Well, consider it payback for putting the image in my head in the first place."
All too soon, they were where Asami had parked. Korra tried to remind herself that a quick parting was the goal, that she had something she should be doing. "Nice car," she said gesturing at the sporty black and red roadster.
"You should see what it can do on the open road sometime," Asami said. She dug in her purse, pulling out a card and a pen. As she scribbled something on the card. "If you like, here's how to get in touch with me. Spending the time with you was the highlight of the evening, and it would be nice to get together sometime. If that's agreeable to you."
Korra smiled as she took the card. "Thank you. That sounds good."
"Well," Asami said. They stood for a moment. "I should go," Asami said at last, fishing out her keys.
"Yeah, me too," Korra said stepping away from the car.
"Take care," Asami said from the driver's seat and pulled away.
Korra waved as she drove off. She waited until the roadster rounded the corner. Then, after glancing around to make sure she was unobserved, she sprinted to the nearest alley and rode a gust of wind to the rooftops. As fast as she could, she headed for home.
Asami had established a network of safe houses in the city for purposes such as this. Still it took time to drive to the most convenient one, get into character, and get to the scene of the fire. She watched the action from the roof of the adjacent building. It was taller than the burning building and made an ideal lookout spot.
She wasn't entirely surprised to see the Avatar present, helping the fire fighters again, as she had on the night of her debut. It was without question an impressive sight. The Avatar was levitating above the street, on top of a small whirlwind if the swirling debris beneath her was anything to go by. She and the firefighters worked in concert at the shouted instructions of the fire captain. The elemental master redirected the water from the hoses with impressive precision. It probably wouldn't be long before the fire was under control.
She scanned the crowd of onlookers to see if she could spot anyone suspicious. She spotted Mako in the crowd, presumably doing the same thing. Bolin had managed to work his way up to the safety cordon and was busy taking pictures. There's a motivation you haven't thought of before, she thought. Selling papers. The unlikely thought of Bolin as a Sozin of Crime was enough to bring a smile to her face, despite the seriousness of the situation.
A chance look at the roof of the burning building took the smile from her face. Huddled in the center was a man. He sat on the roof, hands clasped over his head. Had he fled upstairs in panic and was now trapped? The firefighters couldn't know he was there. Even the Avatar was not high enough to see. The fire might be out soon, but she couldn't be sure it would be in time to save the man's life.
She took a few steps back from the edge of her own building, then took a running jump toward the burning tenement. The one story drop was plenty for her to clear the alleyway, and she took the landing in a roll. Cries from the street told her that her leap had not gone unnoticed by the crowd. Well, there was no way she could do this rescue in secret anyway.
She ran over to the man. "All right, citizen. On your feet. We're getting you out of here." She grabbed him by the shoulders, but he resisted her pull.
"Leave me be. It's all got to burn and me with it." He didn't look up at her.
Asami reached down, grasped the man by the chin and made him look at her. "Did you set the fire?"
"They took my job," he said, which probably amounted to a "Yes."
Asami took a deep breath. "OK, you listen to me. Right now I don't care how bad the world has treated you to make you want to die. And I don't care what wrong things you might have done. Burning is a really unpleasant way to die. And I'm damned if I'm going to leave you to it. If I have to knock you out to get you out of here, I'm not going to be gentle about it. Got it?" She considered letting an arc off from the shock glove fore illustration, but the man's eyes went wide and he nodded without this extra bit of encouragement.
She led him to a few paces from the street-side edge of the roof. She took out her grapple and fired it toward the roof of the neighboring building. As she had hoped, it caught on the framework of the billboard that topped the structure. She gave a sharp tug to test the security of the anchor, then reeled in most of the slack on the line and clipped the safety lead to her belt. Crouching down, she coaxed the man into fireman's carry. She got to her feet with a grunt. Fortunately he wasn't an extremely big man.
"OK. I need you to close your eyes. And don't open them again until I tell you," she said.
"Why not?" he asked in a nervous tone of voice.
"Because if I do this right, we're swinging over to the front of the building next door, well clear of the flames. But I have no idea where we'll make contact. If it's a window, we're going to go right through it."
"Oh, Spirits," the man whimpered. As long as he didn't struggle, Asami didn't mind if he used much worse language.
"Eye's closed?" He gave another whimper, which would have to do. She grasped the line with her free hand. "Here we go," she said, and started for the edge of the building in her best run.
It was difficult to gather much speed, burdened as she was, but she managed a good push off from the parapet of the apartment building. There was a brief moment of free-fall as they arced out over the street. There was a brief flash of heat as they passed directly over the flames coming out of the front windows. Someone from the street screamed, and then the line went taut.
Asami had judged the angles correctly. The grapple's line was pulling far more to the side than back to the building. Their momentum carried them out over the street in a semi-circle, away from the burning building and over to its neighbor, swinging almost as far past the anchor point on the other side as where they had started. Luck was with them, and it was brick rather than glass that lay before them as the approached the façade. Asami raised her legs and flexed them as her boots made contact with the brick, bringing them to as gentle a halt as possible.
Asami realized that the man on her shoulders had started screaming sometime around when the line had been pulled tight. He didn't stop until she had walked them down to ground level, in careful bouncing steps along the building face, letting out more slack on the line gradually. When she eased him of her shoulders he collapsed to his hands and knees.
Cops and ambulance workers ran up to surround them. "I think this man might have something to confess," she said. "Although if you ask me, he needs help more than he needs prison."
She turned to go, when the man reached up and caught her arm. "Thank you," he said, so softly that she had to strain to hear over the ongoing commotion. She clasped his hand for a moment and gave him a nod.
"Hey wait a minute," one of the police officers called out. "You can't just leave."
Asami gave him a level stare. "You have peculiar ideas about how this works," she said. Turning away, she triggered the quick-retract setting on the grapple, and ran up the side of the building as the line reeled in.
Korra took off from the scene of the now extinguished fire. Her instinct agreed with the fire captain's judgement that the fire was well and truly dead.
"If you're interested," the captain had said to her, "you should come out to our practice site, on the outskirts of the city. I know this isn't your job, and I don't expect you to come to our aid every time something catches fire. But I have some ideas I'm curious to try that would make use of some of your other abilities." She turned the offer over in her head. It felt good to have that sort of approval, from an actual city official, no less.
She spotted a dark clad figure running across the roof-tops, not many blocks from the fire. Korra was surprised to recognize it as the Ghost. The mystery woman's dramatic entrance and exit had been long enough ago, that Korra had expected her to be long gone. She flew past the lone figure, low enough to be spotted, then wheeled around and landed on the rooftop in the woman's path. The Ghost stopped, keeping her distance. Her stance was guarded but not hostile.
"Didn't expect to find you still in the neighborhood," Korra said. The Ghost didn't respond, didn't even move in fact. And of course, there was no way to read the woman's mood with her face concealed behind a black scarf and goggles. "You know, that rooftop rescue you pulled wasn't exactly the model of subtlety."
"Did you stop me to pick another fight?" The Ghost said.
"And, so much for you having a sense of humor," Korra muttered.
To Korra's surprise, the Ghost said, "Sorry. It's not fair to take my frustration out on you."
"Oh?" Korra prompted.
"The man on the roof, he set the fire. He lost his job and decided to burn down his home and himself with it. A copycat or just a man with a bad idea. The man the police have is just a hireling, so whoever's behind the other fires is still out there."
"I didn't even know the police had anyone connected with the fires," Korra said.
The Ghost shrugged. "They're keeping it under wraps. The next person up the chain is dead, so their prisoner has nothing to give them. They're at a dead end, and they know it."
"About that," Korra said. "I've been hearing rumors. A lot of the owners of the buildings that burned apparently can't afford to rebuild. And someone in the city government is trying to leverage a big urban renewal project out of it. Far beyond just fixing the damage."
"Are you suggesting that the buildings were targeted with foreknowledge that the owners couldn't or wouldn't rebuild?"
"When you say it out loud, it sounds silly."
"Maybe, maybe not." The Ghost was starting to sound interested. "I haven't found another connection. I looked at some of the financials, but stopped when I ruled out an insurance fraud ring." The Ghost paused. A shift in her stance suggested she was no longer on her guard and was regarding Korra with curiosity more than anything else. "Why tell me?"
"Well…" Korra rubbed the back of her neck and glanced away. "You're the detective. I just hit things."
"You should broaden your ambitions. If you're going to be in this for the long haul." Korra felt her cheeks flush under her mask. "Thanks for bringing this to me," the Ghost continued. "I'll look into it."
"Yeah, well. You're welcome." Korra snapped her kite open. "I'll leave you to it, I guess." She launched herself into the air, and flew away as fast as the wind would carry her. She didn't look back at the Ghost.
"Idiot," she muttered to herself. "What were you expecting from that?" She didn't have an answer for her own question.
Asami was in the hidden sub-basement going through case files when Yin found her. The elderly woman raised an eyebrow and said "Really? Even tonight you're down here?"
Asami grinned. "I couldn't sleep. There was this woman at the party. She was amazing. We really hit it off, and I think she meant it when she said she was interested in getting together again. Actually, she was there as your Bolin's guest, if you'll believe it. She's not the one he's romantically interested in, though. I made sure of that. But I've actually met him now, so that was really nice. And Mako too, afterward. Well, met him without the mask on."
Yin's eyes had at first grown big with the revelations and then started to crinkle in amusement. "So of course, the logical response to all of this excitement is to fight crime."
Asami gave an embarrassed laugh. "Well, it's a distraction, and a timely one. Things got broken up earlier than I would have liked because there was another fire. I went there as the Ghost, and of course the Avatar was also on the scene. She approached me afterwards with a tip. A possible connection between all of the fires. I'm going to need to do more digging, but what we've already got on hand seems to bear her theory out. She's got good instincts." Asami frowned. "I hope I didn't discourage her. I know how to talk to engineers and executives, but another crime-fighter? Everything I say comes out wrong."
Yin's cool response made her wince. "Did you think of just showing her that you trust her?"