This fic is also on my tumblr blog where my username is Kuno-chan and my blog name is Dragoness Ramblings.

Disclaimer: Legend of Korra belongs to Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko

Nuka: Besieged

Files and papers shifted under Nuka's fingers and he rubbed his eyes tiredly. What was he supposed to be looking for again? He had half a mind to ask his father, but even he was fully engrossed in his own stack of paperwork, obviously far more used to this sort of thing than Nuka was. Still, he felt like he was going to go blind at this point.

"What am I supposed to be looking out for...?" he asked, feeling groggy.

His father sighed.

"Well, honestly any name that ends with Tsai and doesn't start with Yao. I want to see if there's any paper evidence of this supposedly missing daughter of his. Who knows if he even has one, but if there's paperwork with her name on it then I want to see it."

Nuka nodded, glad to be reminded. It was an easy enough task, but... he slightly regretted not going with his mother to do more hands on things. He'd, frankly, rather brave the cold than this.

The only good thing about this was that Sila popped in every now and again to drop off more paperwork and the two of them had tried to make things less awkward. Or rather, Nuka tried not to be a baby about the whole thing.

"Do you think he has one?" asked Nuka, his chin resting on his fist as his eyes roamed a list of names. "Maybe he just didn't say anything."

"Yes, but, son, you have to learn that sometimes when people keep secrets that's an entire lie in and of itself. Not saying anything is sometimes the same as lying. If that makes any sense."

"It... doesn't." Nuka winced. "Sorry. I don't think my brain's working like it used to."

His father chuckled. "Believe me, I hear you. It can get kind of harrowing. I do this every day."

"Don't you miss being on the streets though?" asked Nuka. "I mean, this stuff seems like it'd drive someone insane."

"Well, I miss being able to help people personally, but I don't exactly miss the streets. I'd take paperwork over that any day," said his father, scratching the hair on his chin. "Don't get me wrong, I can give it to someone else to do, but then, what kind of police chief would I be?"

"One who likes his eyesight." Nuka snorted. "Okay, I'll admit that sounded like something Rama might say."

His father actually grinned this time. "Not surprising. You two are practically in your own 'no haircuts' club."

Nuka found himself absently brushing his hair back with his fingers. "Yeah, yeah. Some of us just were blessed with great hair."

"Hey, the rest of us just know where to find a barber."

Nuka grinned and they lapsed into silence again. Admittedly, he wanted to help, but... he was bored. In truth, he wanted to be out there with his mother in whatever she was doing. Both of his parents were very hands on when it came to things, but his mother had a tendency to be more hands on than his father. That being said, he had to admire his father for being able to sit through hours of this. Of course, it was due to years of practice and his job, but Nuka wasn't sure he could do this all the time.

He looked up when the door opened and flashed a small smile when Sila came in, but it fell as she waltzed in with another armful of files for them to go through.

"There's more?"

Sila snorted. "There's always more. We literally have rooms and room full of nothing but papers. Just be glad you only have to go through one of them."

"This is going to take forever." He rubbed his eyes for the umpteenth time that hout.

"Do you know what you're looking for?" she asked.

"I do. Well, I do now," he said, looking over at his father. "Dad, what are you looking for?"

"Lots of things," he said vaguely. "Several things, you know..."

Nuka blinked.

"Okay..." he said slowly. He looked back at Sila. "Well, it sounds like he's right in the middle of a few things in his head. Meanwhile, I'm just looking for one thing."

"Fun." said Sila, her lips twitching upwards.

"Loads."

Nuka's father pushed his pile of papers away from him and gestured for someone to bring over a new file for him to begin going through. Getting up, Nuka grabbed a random folder and handed it to him. "I'll start on one over here," he told him.

"No, actually..." His father rubbing his chin. "Why don't you go with Sila? Take a break. Go stretch your legs."

Nuka and Sila exchanged looks.

"Are you sure?" he asked slowly. "This is a lot to get through..."

His father chuckled. "Yeah, but I'm used to this and you're not. I think your eyes need a second to refocus. Otherwise, you'll just be so tired you might actually miss something important, right?"

Nuka thought about it for a second, turning his head side to side. He supposed that was a fair idea, but he also had a sneaking suspicious about his father's motives. Hoping and praying that his parents weren't cooking up anything weird concerning himself and Sila, he nodded and walked out with her. Sila was somebody he was just getting used to being around again. After all, it'd been a very long time. The last thing he needed were his parents, or anyone for that matter, making things uncomfortable. Sure, they were the Avatar and Chief of Police and that was cool and all... but that didn't mean they couldn't get a little, well, embarrassing from time to time.

His face must have been betraying his thoughts because Sila nudged him.

"I'm sure he's barely thinking about anything funny," she said. "If anything, it's almost like he just wants a little more space to concentrate. I'm a nice excuse."

Nuka sighed. "I hope so," he said. "I really don't want anything funny... as you put it at least. I wouldn't call it funny at all."

They rounded a corner and up a short flight of stairs. This hall was relatively empty compared to the rest of the building, Nuka noticed. It made sense though, considering all the sensitive material that was down there. As far as he knew, they had keys locked up with keys down here.

"Didn't you say they were broken up for a time though?" she asked. "I'm sure they would understand if that's the case."

"Yeah... a long time ago? Way before I was born. They were broken up for like... four years in total? No... five I think. I don't know. About four or five years. I can't remember. But it was for a good number of years before they got back together. It was weird for them at first too, but they were still close friends."

"Hmph." She smiled a little. "You're getting better at talking about it."

"It keeps getting brought up so." He shrugged. "If you can't beat them. You know the saying."

"I just don't think it's a big deal. It is what it is. I'm just glad you'll still talk to me."

Nuka frowned. "I never not wanted to talk to you... I just figured you wouldn't want to talk to me afterwards."

"Did I ever say that?"

"Well, no, but-"

"If I don't say it, then how were you so sure?"

Nuka didn't answer. He looked away, feeling his face heat up. Perhaps... his judgment had been hasty. But he'd just broken her heart after all. She told him that she loved him and he broke up with her? What girl was going to want to say two words to you after that?

"You worry too much," she finally said after a long moment, stopping in front of a particularly secure door, bolts an metal crossed all over it to keep it under wraps. "Still, I'm glad you talk to me now."

Nodding, Nuka followed her into the room after she unlocked it with a set of three strange looking angular shaped keys.

"Honestly... me too."

-:-:-:-

A few hours and several hundred papers later, Nuka sat down on a nearby chair, rubbing his eyes so hard they were beginning to hurt from the pressure. He sighed.

"I'm halfway convinced this guy never had a daughter. And if he did, why would we put them in all of this paperwork? What's the point? How does your mom even have all of this anyway?"

Sila didn't looked up as she filed through yellow and white report sheets. "It's part of the cooperation deal. They each have access to certain prior research in an effort to gain progress on the current research. They have some papers on us as well. These are all copies she had brought back with her when she went to Republic City. To answer your second question, the rumor is that his daughter was eighteen and working with him once she became a legal adult. If she did, then her name has to be scrawled out somewhere here. Besides, a lot of these aren't just reports and lab work."

"I know," he said, frowning at one particular handwritten letter. Part of his reluctant too was that he wasn't exactly feeling right about going through a man's filed away personal letters. The one he had in his hand was to an old friend it seemed. Nuka had an idea that all of these weren't exactly obtained with permission. "It just feels wrong."

"It is wrong," she said. He looked up at her and this time, she looked back at him. "But if he's doing something he's not supposed to, then, something they're doing is wrong also. Two wrong's don't make a right, but if he's abusing my mother's spirit vine research then this is about people's lives... you know what I mean?"

Nuka swallowed hard. That was a heavy way of putting it. "Yeah, I do... this just all sounds pretty far fetched. We're essentially looking into a full blown conspiracy. I guess I'm still trying to wrap my brain around it."

Sila shrugged. "I'm used to these things. I guess that's what happens when you grow up around two genius scientists."

"You think you're mom's a genius." He smiled after a moment. "I've almost never heard you say that. Normally, you're getting all embarrassed by her."

"You've seen how my mother is," sighed Sila, picking up a new stack of yellow lab sheets now. "She gets more excited than a little kid."

"Nothing wrong with that."

"I never said there was. I'm just used to her is all. After a while, you get a little tired being around all that energy. Either way, I've always thought my mother was a genius. I just never felt I've had to say as much."

Nuka chuckled. "...you're still the same."

Sila blinked at him for a moment.

"What?"

"You're still the same. Always having an answer for everything. You've always been like that," he said, going back to his pile of papers when he saw her pause, then nod in a stiff acknowledgment. "Anyway, you finding anything yet?"

"No-" She suddenly stopped, staring hard and squinting at the bottom of what looked like an old handwritten note. "Actually... yes. I think I found something."

Nuka immediately got up, striding over to her corner across the room. The inflection in her voice rose in a way that he knew meant she had really found it. Or something at least. He bent over her shoulder to get a closer look. At the bottom of the sheet, Sila pointed to a faded out, but legible name signed in brushed ink.

"Naomi Tsai..." he read.

Why did that sound familiar?

"Yes, this must be it. Or... well, it's a start," she said, carefully putting the paper on a nearby desk and writing the name out on another blank sheet. She tucked the paper into her shirt. "It's just a little letter talking about someone's lunch. Don't even think it's directed to her possible dad, but it means that somebody named 'Naomi Tsai' exists."

Nuka nodded, still racking his brain for wherever that name was ringing a bell. "But I've heard that name before... I swear I have," he said. Sometimes, his dad brought home his work, especially when he was particularly absorbed in a certain case. "We need to get this to my dad right now. I wouldn't be surprised if he knows who this is with Tsai Labs based in Republic City."

-:-:-:-

"Your mission, above all else, is to capture Chief Eska and Chief Desna of the Northern Water Tribe. You have all been briefed on the layout of the palace as well as the catacombs beneath it. All three of you know what to do."

Tikaani stared at the blueprint visually laden with red and black ink pinpointing the most important bunkers for the royal siblings and even their individual children. She didn't respond with the enthusiastic 'yes, general' the way Namada and Gurana did, her eyes and mind fully concentrated on the maps spread across the metal walls in front of her.

"Predator?"

Tikaani's muscles twitched.

"Very well, General," she replied, not bothering to glance at the well poised tall, solid man standing just outside of her vision. She knew his brown eyes were trained on her in some kind of personal evaluation and she ignored it, going back to her own thoughts.

When the Northern Water Tribe realized that they had invaders, they would whisk the chiefs away, most likely, separately. It was the most common sense thing to do. However, they might also move them to an obscure location together just to throw their enemies off and instead move each chief's individual children off into all separate locations, ensuring that the heirs were secure during the anarchy.

One flaw remained in that plan, Tikaani saw.

Too many places and too many people to move. Too many people to separate. If they chose to separate everybody then that meant somebody would more than likely be in one of the bunkers, granting possibilities for their enemies to gain leverage on the situation. If they chose to put them all in one location or split in two locations, then it would simply be a sniffing out game until they found the right bunker. That left two options: escape the city entirely or moving bunkers so not to stay in one place too long.

If all went well, eventually, escape was going to be close to impossible. And moving too many times was risky in case they ran into those hunting them. That only left the chiefs' personal guardsmen as the big wall between they three hunters and their targets.

That all being said, majority of their options had some kind of loophole. Once stage two was allowed to come into play-

"Good." The general nodded curtly in dismissal. "Then get ready. We'll be arriving at the wall shortly."

-:-:-:-

Nuka's father took the paper from Sila and seemed to read it over a couple times before anything seemed to click.

"Of course!" he said, smacking the paper with the back of his hand as it apparently dawned on him. "Naomi Tsai. I remember that name. It wasn't my case, but I definitely remember it."

"You know her?" asked Nuka, frowning.

His father shook his head. "I only met her once on a hospital visit with your mother. Like I said, it wasn't even my case, but it happened a few years ago. You were just a kid so you probably don't remember it much. It was like... seven or eight years ago? I'd been made chief recently when it happened and, honestly, it was more of a huge headache for your mother," he said. "See, Naomi Tsai was a girl who wandered a bit too far into the spirit wilds in Republic City and apparently angered one of the spirits dwelling there."

Nuka shared looks with Sila. Spirits weren't like people. Angering one was always agreed to be somewhat of a terrible idea by most people's standards. From her expression, Sila thought the same. "What happened?"

"Well," his father went on more seriously. "It was... not pretty. Not pretty at all. The spirit attacked her. It possessed her and..."

"And what, Dad?" urged Nuka.

His father sighed. "If spirits possess you long enough it can have some permanent effect. To put it bluntly, it deformed her... I don't remember what kind of spirit it was, but whatever it was deformed her to the point that she had to be left in hopstial care and everything. According to your mother, she had breathing issues, weak bones in parts of her body... it was terrible. Your mother was really beating herself up during all of that. Think about it. Here she is, having returned spirits to the physical world and this kind of thing happens to that poor girl. It's bound to happen in some ways I suppose, but, of course, the press had a field day with it and there were all kinds of headlines about spirits being too dangerous to live among humans and it was just a mess. Created a bit of anti-spirit sentiment in the city too. Well, made it a quite a bit stronger anyway."

"What happened to her?" asked Sila.

"Honestly? We don't know," said Nuka's father, frowning. "They never pressed any charges. If you can even press charges against a spirit – I'm sure you can't – and they just disappeared. We never really heard much of anything from them and they just requested their family have their privacy while dealing with these issues. That's the last anybody ever heard of them after the press were onto their next story."

"Just... gone?" Nuka raised an eyebrow. "And nobody thought that was suspicious...?"

"Well, nobody thought they might be involved in spirit vine human experimentation at the time so that would be a no," said his father, putting a hand on his hip. "But, I know what you mean. I wasn't in charge of that case at all, but I do wish we could have convinced them to let your mother help them somehow. Then again, they probably wanted nothing to do with spiritual things after that. If she is who we think she is, then I have a bad feeling about this..."

"I just don't like the direction this is going at all." Nuka suddenly felt a little queasy. He could only imagine what that girl went through. Personally, he'd been raised around spirits all his life and he knew that some of them really just wanted to be left alone. Some of them really, really didn't like humans despite living in the physical world. Naturally, there were humans who would feel the same about spirits. "Do you think we can probably find her? To talk to her?"

"All we can do is try..." His father's eyebrows knitted together, worry etched into the grey of his hair and the lines around his mouth. It was a look that Nuka knew on him very well. "Okay, so your mother should be getting back very soon. I'm going to go wait for her near the back gates up on the cliffs. Elevated part of the city. I'm sure Sila knows what I mean if you need me. Why don't you two take a break for now? Sila, would you mind going to go check on that key for us? To the file? We should probably take a look at that as soon as possible."

Sila shook her head.. "I don't mind. Besides, it should be just about done by now. It only takes so long because the door that it's locked behind is made up of a particular metal. Any other metal used would probably break the key."

"Doesn't that sound a bit extreme?" asked Nuka, raising his brows.

Sila shrugged. "Safety precaution. Same reason why we destroy the key after we're done with it. It's a little trick of my mom's with metal mixtures and diamond cutters and all that. Complicated chemical stuff. I'll show you where we make it. It's just in the basement level a couple floors down."

"You two go do that." Nuka's father clapped him on his shoulder. "Nuka don't touch anything you're not supposed to."

Nuka made a face as his father left.

"I'm not five," he called, his father waving him off as he shut the door behind him. He snorted, turning to ask Sila another question, but frowned at the site of her actually biting her lip. It took all of his power not to outright smile at it. "If you even giggle I'm going to tell your mom that you want to hear all about the plant research she's doing in that one room you showed me."

She actually laughed as they stepped out the door, going in the opposite direction of his father. "Go ahead, she's going to do that anyway. You have no ammo here."

She walked ahead of him and he wrestled down the serious urge to pout.

They got to the stairs, talking in length about her mother's latest idea for researching the way plants might react to music. It was an interesting idea to say the least.

"You think flowers might like jazz music?"

"They already react to sunlight," nodded Sila. "And she's so excited about it. Why not see what else they might react to? Considering everything else that's already true about them. I mean, not so much in a conscience sense, but their growth might be affected by different types of sounds reverberated at them. She thinks so."

"Well, if she's right, then maybe in the future we'll have flower fields where they play jazz music overhead. Sounds like something out of mover if you ask me, but..."

He trailed off when he felt the ground beneath him move. Did the ground just shake? Or was that just him? He wasn't feeling funny. But then he looked at Sila and saw her glancing at her feet as well with the same bewildered look on her face. Then, it happened again. Stronger. Harder than before and Nuka braced the wall instnctively.

He looked at her. "What was that?"

Sila shook her head. "It wasn't anything in the building. At least, I don't think so."

It happened again and they could hear something in the other room break. They stood there, daring not to move too fast or else they be knocked to the ground or maybe a light fall right on their heads. The tremors and quakes were getting stronger, Nuka getting the urge to grab Sila by the wrist just in case, glancing up at the light over her.

When it seemed to have stopped. Were they having an earthquake? The North Pole wasn't exactly famous for their earthquakes. Blizzards, yes. Earthquakes? No.

"We... should go outside," said Sila, reaching out to grab Nuka's arm, pulling him away. "And get from under that light before it falls right on you."

Nuka glanced up at the light fixture just over him as they trotted down the hall and down a couple flights of stairs. They didn't even make it to the door before they ran straight into one of the lab assistants, running toward the exit.

"Hanami?" Sila gave her a hand up. "Hanami, what's going on? And where are you going?"

Hanami shook her head, panting as she caught her breath.

"The wall- I-I don't know. I-"

"What do you mean the wall?"

"I mean, the city walls. They've been breached. Somebody's blown a hole in the baase of the wall!"

Sila's mouth fell open. "Breached? How? That wall has sentries from corner to corner! That's impossible! Why wasn't there any warning? Did we miss it or-"

"No, it's just... happened. They bypassed all the ships. Nobody saw them. I-I don't know. I'm sorry, I have to go get my kids!"

As Hanami ran off, Sila turned toward Nuka, shaking her head. "I don't understand. With all of those ships and all of those sentries on the wall, it's impossible for us to be attacked with no fair warning."

But Nuka already had an idea. A surprise attack with no fair warning sounded a bit too much like the attack on Air Temple Island.

Nuka swallowed hard. "Not if they use submarines," he said, nodding for her to come with him. "Let's go. We need to find your mom and my parents."

Sila fell in beside him, knees bent, grabbing her shield from her back and sliding it onto her arm. Nuka, too, bended the water out of his water skin, his fists capped in hardened ice.

He was starting to get his own bad feelings as well.

-:-:-:-

"Oooh, so when we get back, we should stop by this squid place. The food there is amazing and I'm starving. Can't do any research on an empty stomach, you know." Osina grinned, still keeping her eyes on the road as the city came into view. "How long has it been since you've had some authentic Water Tribe food?'

"Eh, you'd be surprised what they have in Republic City," said Korra, chuckling a little. Man, was she tired. She wouldn't say as much, but they were only taking this truck because Osina wasn't a waterbender. Korra herself used her glider to get to and from the portal much faster and she could skip the scenery of snow and ice lulling her to sleep. Thankfully, talking to Osina was making time pass far better than it had been on the way there. When she got back to her parents house, if she could just manage to fit in a short nap it'd be great. "But I could use a meal. Besides, Mako's always making sure I get something to eat."

"Aww, it's so cute how he worries about you all the time," said Osina.

"He really does." Korra laughed. "He's such a hen. It's okay though. I get the same way with him and Nuka, but Nuka hardly forgets to eat. Boy's an athlete so we always have to make sure we have food in the house."

"My baby is so practical," gushed Osina. "She always eats so healthy and I never have to worry about it. If anything, she's the one who has to make sure I feed myself. Sometimes I just can't remember food, you know? She's such a good- is that smoke?"

Korra frowned, looking toward the stack of smoke rising to the sky. She narrowed her eyes, squinting at it and then there was a boom in the distance and another trail of fumes rose. Her heart stopped.

"Drive," she ordered, eyes fixated on the rotten air, nails clenched into her seat as she leaned forward. "Drive faster. As fast as you can."

"Sila..." It was all Osina could manage as she stomped her foot on the gas pedal before Korra even finished her sentence. Her own thoughts followed a similar train as the faces of her son and husband flashed behind her eyes. Mako could handle himself though. He was far more than resourceful. But her boy...

The thought permeated her mind and she bit down on her lip painfully.

Nuka.

And finally something rumbles! I know this fic is kind of a slow pace, but I appreciate each and every one of you who take the time to read it and leave your word of what you think, what you like and what you think needs work. It means quite a lot to me!

I don't want to say much and reveal too much, but hopefully it's clear that we're going to see some clashing! The North Pole is going to be the host of some very important things happening!

As always, guys I love it when you drop those reviews! It really encourages to keep writing and to push through to get those chapters to you guys as fast and with as much quality as I can! Thank you for reading! Tune in for next chapter!