With each passing day, Hasook and his mother were getting progressively more used to having Shinook around the house. He got bored just sitting around the house, so after getting a quick shave from Hasook, he went out to find work. Through some haggling with Chen, Hasook was able to score Shinook a position on the same pier. They worked together and bonded pretty quickly as close friends. Even with three mouths to feed, Having Hasook, Shinook and his mother all working allowed the trio to save a rather nice sum of money for emergencies, alleviating the stress Sepay had endured since her husband's passing. After work every day, they'd reunite around the dinner table and share stories and jokes. It was all a little surreal having another person living with them. Hasook had been used to the solitude, but he was in no way complaining about the predicament. The only thing that was excruciatingly difficult for Hasook to watch was seeing Shinook wake up every morning before everyone else, walk into the kitchen with Hasook's small water basin, and try in vain to move the water, hoping his powers would somehow return to him, but they didn't.

After the original incident, Hasook healed Shinook every day in the spots that Amon had touched when taking his bending away. He refused to believe that Amon had been given the same gift Avatar Aang had used to permanently depower Fire Lord Ozai. Bending one's energy away was an ability granted only to the Avatar and it was impossible that Amon could use it as well. Pouring over the countless scrolls in his collection, he kept trying to formulate a way in which the standard chiblocking techniques could completely stop bending, but to no avail. Every possible combination that he could think of trying to unblock with healing had no effect whatsoever on Shinook's lost bending.

Not one to be easily discouraged by disadvantage however, Shinook sparred with Hasook in the small clearing down the alley from his home. Hasook stuck primarily to smaller scale bending techniques due to the limited area, but that did not stop Shinook from finding something to critique every time. Although he had taught himself a large number of techniques from the bending scrolls, his skills were still unrefined and thus limited in power. Even as a non-bender, Shinook proved to be the best waterbending teacher Hasook had ever had. A few weeks passed and the blobs of undulating water became flawless streams of current guided through the air like a heavenly river. His forms transitioned from the rigid styles he'd used from instinct to the fluid, reactionary styles typical of traditional bending.

The light door swung open on squeaky hinges, allowing Hasook and Shinook to waltz inside. His mother was sitting intently at the table listening to a radio broadcast.

"...and that's that. For those of you just joining us, Councilman Tarlokk of the Northern Water Tribe has assembled an anti-Equalist taskforce. This very evening, the task force, accompanied by Avatar Korra herself, raided what official reports are saying was an Equalist training camp where individuals are taught chi blocking. Vocal non-bender activist, Xin Huitan, professor at RCU joins us to comment on the situation..."

Hasook and Shinook sat down quiety next to Sepay and focused in on the shaky transmission.

"As I have stated before in my numerous critiques of this nation's government, benders abuse their powers to oppress the non-bending population and prevent them from gaining power. I believe that the Councilman has overstepped his bounds as a protector of this city and is acting not in the interest of the entire population, but merely of the bending elite. These people were learning self-defense techniques which are warranted as useful in the least in a city ruled by the Triad thugs. With this strike, Tarlokk hoped to quell this unrest, but he has merely given Amon more fuel to feed the fire."

"Thank you, Professor Huitan. Now before we return to our earlier program, let's hear something from our sponsors..." *click* Sepay turned the radio off.

She looked intensely at her son and laid her hand on his. "Hasook..."

He squeezed her hand tightly and interrupted, "I know, mom. I'll be safe. I got caught off guard before, I'm ready this time."

She looked down and bit her lower lip. Shinook tapped her on the shoulder and looked her in the eyes, "Sepay, you should trust him. In all honesty, he's one of the better waterbenders I've seen. If anyone's safe, he is."

The next night while eating dinner, Hasook clicked the radio on to listen to some music. After sitting down as smooth jazz played in the background, he looked at both his mother and Shinook and began to eat. Before he could even begin chewing his first bite, he heard a chilling voice drown out the music. A pair of chopsticks fell to the floor and when he turned around to look, Shinook's mouth was hanging open in what seemed like utter terror. "I-It's him."

"Who?"

"Amon." They fell silent and listened to the voice projecting from the small box.

"It is time for benders to experience true fear."

Hasook and Shinook both got up at the same time and walked over to the radio, clicking it off and eating in silence.

After both his mother and Shinook were sound asleep, Hasook put on his tunic as quietly as possible and walked out the door into the darkness. The crescent moon cast a paltry amount of light into the winding alleys of Shu Dai, meaning Hasook had to rely on muscle memory and instinct to guide him. After a short walk he reached the coastline and walked into the dim yellow light emitted by the street lamps. Not a soul was around and he could hear the autumn wind howling across the bay. It still amazed him every time that he lived in such a beautiful place. The skyline of the Central Peninsula stuck out of the darkness like a cluster of stars against the inky darkness of the night.

Hasook didn't really have any destination in mind when he left, he just needed some time to clear his head and think. Eventually he reached a small dock close to the water and sat down, staring at the crescent moon's reflection on the surface and everything was so tranquil. The peaceful silence was broken by a panicked scream, a woman and a child, nearby. Springing to his feet as quickly as possible, Hasook rashly pulled his arms forward to fill the extra waterskins he'd begun wearing, in case he needed to fight. Off he ran into the darkness. With each stride he could hear the screams get louder until he spotted a small girl running towards him followed by a taller woman and a third figure behind them both...an Equalist, no two!

"Please help us!" the woman screamed desperately, "They're after my daughter!" Hasook's eyes shifted immediately to the small girl running towards him. She had a small waterskin around her waist, big enough to hold maybe a cup or two of water at most. She was a waterbender.

"Come here!" He gestured to the pair quickly. When they reached him, he grabbed the mother by the shoulder. "Get your daughter out of here, now. Go to the Orphanage, you'll be safe there. I'll try and buy you some time."

"Thank you" she screamed through her tears.

"GO. NOW."

He pushed her off him, just in time to uncork one of the waterskins at his side. The charging Equalist lunged at him, missing his mark and landing right between Hasook and the mother. With an almost imperceptably fast movement of his feet he propelled the water out of the skin around his torso in a small ring, accelerating it into a strong blast that sent the masked man flying into the alley wall. The other assailant lunged at him from behind, trying to hit the pressure points in his arms, but with a flick of his wrists, Hasook drew the water up from the ground below him into a fast moving pillar of ice, hitting the attacker square in the gut. Before he could react, they flipped over him to regroup and coordinate another attack.

Hasook recognized pretty quickly that these chi-blockers were defintely more skilled than the last ones he'd fought. Turning his hands upward, Hasook uncorked two more of the water skins and pooled the water at his feet. While this was happening the water he'd frozen into the ice pillar melted and subsumed into the growing ring of water at his feet. The masked figures shifted their weight back and forth, looking for an opening to strike, hoping to take Hasook out in a swift flurry of blows. Hasook began to raise his hands and the smaller of the two attackers rushed at him and sprang up at the last moment with the intent of striking his shoulders. What she didn't realize however was why Hasook had raised his hands. A huge tentacle of water grabbed the masked woman midair and used her momentum to hurl her back down the alley. Hasook was surrounded by eight large undulating tentacles that had risen out of the ring of water.

"Octupus form." He smirked while moving his arms quickly to control the advanced technique, "Bet you guys haven't seen this one before."

Seemingly unphazed by the taunt, the other attacker silently jumped quickly between the walls of the alley towards Hasook. With a strong upward thrust, Hasook shot some water off of one of the tentacles as sharp ice spears. Soaring through the air, the spears lodged in the wall just a second too late, missing the Equalist. Undeterred by his fast moving opponent, Hasook lashed two huge tentacles at the man, slamming into the walls and ground, barely missing him. The Equalist had gotten too close. Hasook wasn't in the mood for restraint. Forcing a huge volume of water forward that filled the alley, Hasook froze the attacker in place. Unable to escape, the Equalist was a sitting duck.

Gracefully Hasook coordinated his hand and foot movements, pulling the huge volume of water into orbit around him. The other attacker sprang to his feet and rushed in brandishing brass knuckles. She dodged Hasook's first few concentrated blasts, edging closer and closer. With his focus broken, Hasook lost control of the water, which fell to the ground in a torrent. Seizing the opportunity, the Equalist lunged forward, landing a hit on his leg with the brass knuckles. He had to regain the upper hand or it was curtains for him.

Thinking as quickly as he could, Hasook drew two spheres of water onto his arms, coating them completely. The Equalist moved in to strike his left arm, but right as the metal was about to connect, Hasook concentrated the water on the targeted spot and flash froze it into a solid disk of ice, repelling the hit. The shock gave him enough time to force the attack back with a wave of water.

Now that he had some breathing room, Hasook took a deep breath and began to circle his arms in giant vertical arcs. The water below was drawn up with each cycle, sharpened to an edge by the other hand and launched rapidly at the masked attackers. The frozen man was hit by one of the discs which sliced right through the layer of ice and left a gash oozing blood on now exposed arm. The woman weaved seemingly effortlessly through the razor sharp discs of water being launched at her, once again closing the distance between her and Hasook, looking to end this.

Transitioning forms mid movement, Hasook used the momentum of his arms to draw up a long whip of water which was fired at lightning speeds at the attack, hitting its mark. The woman landed hard on the ground and tried to spring up to avoid Hasook, but it was too late. Hasook formed tons of long thin tendrils of water that wrapped around the her arms and legs, holding her in place. The water had become slightly pink due to the blood lost by the other attacker.

Raising his fists upward, Hasook raised the captured Equalist to a standing pose and froze the water tendrils with a snap of his fingers. He walked up to the defeated assailant and stared straight into the soulless green-tinted lenses.

"If you know what's good for you, you'll talk now. I'm giving you one shot." The mask stared back at him. Only the muffled sounds of breathing could be heard. No indication of fear, joy. No emotion.

"Why are you people attacking children?"

No answer.

"What use are they to you? They haven't done anything. They haven't oppressed you."

No answer. The masked face glanced away, seemingly uninterested.

"LISTEN TO ME." Hasook clenched his fists. The ice tightend around the captive's body.

The man stood there silently Mocking Hasook with his blase glare.

"LAST CHANCE." Hasook screamed at the mask, his face reddened with rage.

The green glass lens stared at him and uttered a breathy, "As penance for what your kind has done. The world is better without benders."

"Okay then." Hasook held his palms flat against the ice layer covering the Equalists left leg. The ice tightened around the calf, but right before he gave that final squeeze Hasook stopped himself.

He saw his reflection in the water and stopped moving. What was he about to do? Break a woman's bone out of malice, out of anger, out of fear? He was just as bad as Tarlokk and his goons, and these Equalists hunting kids. He looked at his hands and the suspended woman before him. Wordlessly he pulled up a sheath of water and gave her injuries some preliminary first aid.

Hasook then moved his palms to the partially frozen man's left arm, surrounding it with both hands. He pulled up a blob of water from the pool at his feet and held it hovering around the frozen arm. The water passed through the ice layer and began to glow blue. After he stymied the bleeding he defrosted him entirely with the exception of bulky ice hand and foot cuffs.

He knelt down to take off the mask of his attacker, but as he pulled the tubes back, thick black ink shot all over the mans face. Staining his skin and making him unrecognizable. Hasook tried to wash it off with water, but the ink proved insoluble. Realizing there was nothing left he could do, he walked over to the woman, stopped her bleeding with healing and restrained her as he had done with the other. He propped them up together against the wall. They were both okay, just shaken.

"Finish the job bender, make us the martyrs to ignite our cause!" the woman spat from beneath her mask.

Undulating his arms, Hasook drew as much of the water into the waterskins as he could and dried their clothes. The two faces stared at him silently watching him walk away.

"We will find you."

Hasook looked back wordlessly before walking over to the nearby police telegraph box and typing a message to the coppers about the two, but he stopped answering when they asked for a name.

He walked off, unsure of himself.

He didn't talk about what had happened with Shinook or his mother. He was still processing the details himself. In the days following, Avatar Korra challenged Amon and was left helpless on Avatar Aang memorial island. Her defeat left many in shock and many terrified. She'd escaped with her bending intact, but the fear Amon instilled in the bending population by besting the Avatar, albeit through cheap tactics and ambush, was incredible. Each day there would be new reports of raids by Tarlokk's task force on some secret hideout and each day Amon would wiretap his way onto the broadcast and spout propaganda. On top of that, he'd heard nothing about the Equalists he'd subdued in the papers. Nothing from the police, no outrage. They must have escaped while the police were in transit.

The only reprieve from the insanity came with the start of the pro-bending Finals rounds. The sport raised people's spirits and took their minds off of the looming threat the Equalists posed. Even so, all Hasook could think of was the terror he'd seen in the little girl's eyes as she ran from assailants twice her size, pursuing her with intent to harm. It had happened in Shu Dai, one of the city's poorer districts. How many cases of missing children or home invasion would pass under the radar? How many before people realized what was happening right under their noses.

Hasook made rounds in the neighborhood to put the parents of bending children on alert. Paradoxically, as soon as the raised awareness happened, no more disappearances were heard of in the area. They were safe for now, he figured, Amon had bigger fish to fry.