Tenzin raised his hands to quiet the audience them steadily began to speak.
"Thank you all for your help today; we will now announce the results." He made a small pause to look at the piece of parchment in his hands. "The new Earth Kingdom representative in Republic City Council is…Amora Kufeng."
There was a mass of applause but Korra cursed under her breath, setting her face into a sulky expression.
The candidate in question took the spot next to Tenzin. She wore an emerald green long skirt with an expensive looking, complexly embroidered russet tunic over it and a yellow silk sash; her deeply lined green eyes were heavily made-up with grey and lilac, her thin and wide red lips were stretched in an overly sweet and almost disturbing smile and her greying brown hair was piled in short curls. She humbly accepted the position and bowed to the other Councilors.
"Welcome, Councilwoman Kufeng." Tenzin greeted her before raising a hand once again to silence the crowd. "On to the next announcement."
The other Earth Kingdom candidates took their seats among the audience and Tenzin read the parchment with the results once more.
"The choice for the new non-bender representative post is…" Tenzin spoke and Korra could see the distaste falter the new Earth Counselor's smile. "Lau Gan-Lan."
Korra's face fell with disappointment. She really had been hoping for Asami to win, but at least the winner was the man she dubbed as 'cabbage guy' and not the thinly mustached man she had recognized among the candidates. The first time she had seen the ex-equalist she hadn't really realized who he was but he looked familiar enough that she put two and two together and began remembering the only time she had seen the man's face; given that she was being bloodbent at the time it was perfectly understandable that she hadn't been paying attention to the man and therefore had not immediately known him. He, however, had been watching her like hawk during the entire voting process.
Lau Gan-Lan took his place next to new Earth Counselor. He was smiling broadly and little naively with victorious glee as he bowed to the Council members and waved at all the voters. He even seemed oblivious of the obvious distaste that marred the face of the woman next to him.
"Welcome, Councilman Gan-Lan." Tenzin greeted the man officially as all the non-bender candidates took their seats, Asami actually managed to sit next to Korra.
"Sorry, you didn't win, A." Korra gave her friend a tentative smile.
"Oh I knew I wouldn't, I'm actually relieved it's over. Thanks for the support though, Korra." Asami smiled looking completely relaxed, which reassured Korra.
"Finally, I would like to announce that the new Water Tribe Council member is…" Tenzin was speaking with all his authority again but seemed somewhat hasty. "Sukuda."
The middle-aged bulky man with a good-humored face took his place next to Gan-Lan. He bowed and greeted all Council members before bowing unnecessarily at the crowd itself.
"Welcome, Councilman Sukuda." Tenzin announced. "Without further ado, we will now…"
Tenzin was interrupted by roars in the crowds. People seemed to be standing and complaining angrily, pushing others around and trying to advance towards the front.
"That's a lie! No way Sukuda out-voted Dorkut!" Korra couldn't tell who had yelled but the person seemed incredibly furious.
"Yeah, we demand a recount!" Someone else was hollering at the Council members.
Tenzin sighed and cleared his throat once again, obviously about to explain something he didn't really want to say.
"I hoped to keep this matter private but I seem to have no choice." He looked towards the other members who nodded with agreement and proceeded reluctantly with his speech. "The Council is regretful to announce, with grave sorrow, that we had to disqualify the candidate with the most votes for Water Tribe representative. During the vote count, it was brought to our attention through anonymous but confirmed sources that the front-runner for the position has been engaging in business that prompts illegibility for the Council. I am sorry candidate Dorkut, but if you would please accompany Chief Beifong to the precinct we would all be much obliged."
Lin Beifong was already next to the man in question and Dorkut had look on his face like a cornered animal with wide eyes, tense frame and gaping mouth. There was a buzz of commotion among the audience and in the confusion nobody noticed the group of men clad in rusty dark red sneaking around the upper levels of the Hall; that is, not until the strangers directed violent bolts of lightning towards the new Counselors and every person in the front row, including Asami and Korra herself. Luckily, the Avatar managed to push Asami and another spectator out of the way in time thanks to her sharp instincts.
There were screams echoing all over the Hall and the acrid smell of electricity burns permeated in the air as the metalbending police rushed to protect all Council people. The new members were drowned protective bodies that did not allow outsiders to see the state of the situation.
Being one of the people closest to the balcony where the would-be assassins stood and feeling responsible to act as Avatar, Korra used her shabby airbending to propel herself up towards them. All of the anonymous attackers were already running, invading open offices and rushing out the windows but Korra gave chase.
«Now this is more like it.» Korra was actually pleased to get to pound someone and the fact that they hadn't held back against the innocent spectators as made her angry as can be.
The men were fast and scattering between the back alleys of the busy city but Korra locked on to a specific target and chased him relentlessly, knocking down merchant stalls and pushing people out of the way as she went. She suddenly managed to corner the man she was chasing in an alley but it felt way too easy, he had slowed down and turned into a dead end when he could have just mingled into the crowed market but Korra cornered him anyway, hoping he was just stupid.
"Stop right there, hoodlum!" Korra yelled.
The man, whose face was mostly hidden with a red wrap mask, turned to look at her then used firebending to and a jump over the roof of the building that blocked his path.
Korra mimicked the gesture and followed but when she landed on the other side, she saw that it wasn't another street but the immense yard of some large warehouse unit. The space was wide and open with nowhere to hide so she looked around for the attacker but what she found surprised her.
A group of around fifteen men approached her. By the tailored suits and shady looks of them she assumed she was dealing with gangbangers and the man in red was among them with another of his City Hall accomplices.
They surrounded her in three rows and Korra immediately denoted that this had been a last minute trap. It pissed her off that she had fallen for it but she figured that if it was an improvised attack she could take them. She was wrong.
The group was well organized after all. Five men surrounded her closely with five more bridging the gaps in an outer row about five feet away; the remaining handful surrounded them all in the far back. The noise from the nearby market would drown any screaming and there was only a single sealed exit. She was trapped and she could tell by the men's stances that she had all elements, except air obviously, to deal with- the inner circle seemed to be composed by firebenders, followed by waterbenders and earthbenders in the far back.
"Surrender, you are outnumbered, Avatar." The man she had chased yelled at her.
"I am the Avatar, you think I'm gonna lose to you goons?!" Korra declared angrily taking a firebending stance herself. She knew she had to use all her self-confidence to try an shake them but inside she was nervous, in any other time she would have gladly handled these thugs at whatever cost but it occurred to her that in her current physical condition she had more than herself to protect and therefore could not afford to be reckless.
The firebenders seemed ready to attack but one of them seemed a little sloppy and nervous, Korra decided to go for him and hoped he would anticipate the move and throw the others off balance. It worked- she lunged to him with a flaming fist and suddenly there was fire everywhere. The anxious bender moved away trying to dodge and punch her in unison with the others but he was hasty and threw the firebenders off tempo causing them to have to dodge each other while she applied a rotated kick to two of them and lunged for a third.
Her fatal flaw was that she had forgotten the waterbenders, she didn't think they would attack through the flames because it would simply evaporate the water, but they bent shards of ice through the flame at high speed and rather than evaporating the shards melted into boiling water, one of such splashes hit Korra's upper back and right shoulder while another splashed her left thigh. She screamed as the burns settled in but it only fueled her rage further and she stood using airbending to create an implosion of air around her whose oxygen fueled a massive explosion when she firebent outwards literally sending the firebenders and half the waterbenders flying.
The exterior circle of benders raised a tall dirt wall, catching their comrades and trapping Korra in the process but she wasn't about to allow them to use an element she knew like the palm of her hand against her.
Korra gathered the water from the ground, just in time to form an ice shield for the new hailing of ice shards that rained onto her but a pair of boulders flung against her shattered said shield apart. Adrenaline was pumping in her system and Korra nimbly dodged another hail of ice while bending the boulders thrown against out of the way and into the wall. The resulting crash distracted one of the benders holding up the wall and a large segment of it collapsed inwardly.
Two attackers were caught under the crumbling rocks and Korra rolled out of the just in time but as she stood she was surprised by glob of water to the head- a blob of water stuffed with rocks that is. She stumbled and hesitated and was punished for it with a simple kick to the head from a disgruntled firebender. She fell back disoriented and before she could raise her hands to form a defensive stance, a waterbender had her hands pinned in ice.
The Avatar struggled, she could only move her legs and blindly used another flaming kick as it was the only move she could muster in time but the firebender deflected it and kicked in her shin and ankle, she wasn't sure if she had felt the bone crack but screamed in pain nonetheless as her leg was immobilized and twisted into an odd angle.
Korra was beginning to panic, the adrenaline still rushed in her system and if she had been able to think rationally she might be able to remember to melt the ice that trapped her with her flaming roar but the sudden vulnerable exposed torso position was making her fear for more than herself and her instincts began to tell her to flee rather than fight.
The firebender she had originally chased moved forward in a matter of seconds and she could see the sparks that signaled he was going to use lightning bending and she wasn't sure she could deflect it in her current position. She shut her eyes trying to get ready for the shock.
There was a messy buzz and a soft sound of a quick sequence of taps and a crash next to her, it took mere instants.
Korra opened an eye to see what had happened and saw the firebender paralyzed on the ground by her side and with a whoosh, two more fell and from all the screaming and confusion she realized someone else had joined the fray.
The ice that bound her hands suddenly melted and was bent away and a tall man in a familiar outfit stood before her, quickly extending a hand to help her up- a scarred hand which she accepted without hesitation.
"What are you doing here?" She yelled over the confusion as the enemies regrouped and began attacking again. Her shaky leg seemed to be accepting her weight so she gratefully assumed nothing was broken, merely sprained.
"Saving you, it seems, Avatar Korra." His face was completely obscured in the hood and he had been right before- the mask was almost invisible in the shadows of the cowl and the shade of the half broken wall the earthbenders had erected. It was eerie and intimidating, as if Death itself had joined the fight.
"Thanks, N…Thanks." She wasn't sure if she was free to use his name in public.
They found themselves back to back as the enemies circled them. Korra realized how ironic it was that it was just the two old nemeses against the so many potential assassins but it still felt pretty damn good to be able to fight by Noatak's side rather than against him.
Korra looked around and calculated that at least seven of the fifteen were out of action so it was an eight on two fight. She liked the odds.
"Good timing, by the way." Korra cocked her head to speak to the man behind her as she side-stepped the body of the man that had been about to electrocute her accidentally stepping over his hand.
"For the record, that was chi blocking, not the other skill." He voiced darkly while he surveyed the hesitant attackers. By his tone she got the impression that he did wish he had bloodbent them and was holding back with extreme effort.
"I love that you're man of many talents." Korra replied evasively as she rolled her stiff wrists and took on an earthbending stance. "Ready?"
"Always, Korra." His tone held no doubt.
Korra took the cue and as soon as the benders lunged she dodged downwards letting Noatak's waterbending handle the repercussion as she used a clawing earthbending move and punched the floor outwards, causing an enormous ripple that broke up the ground and flung the enemies aside whilst shaking down the wall into rubble. Then together both Korra and Noatak used speedy water shots on each of the attackers, quickly freezing them all in place while they were busy dodging rock fall.
Once all the goons were down, Korra collapsed to her knees panting. The adrenaline rush had dulled the pain but being burned with boiling water, flung to the ground and nearly shattering a shin still took its toll, not to mention she felt something warm and sticky smeared on the back of her head and she was sure it wasn't water.
"Try not to pass out just yet." Noatak helped her up again by her elbow. "Someone's is coming."
He was right. Someone was pounding at the sealed steel entrance and instants later the door was bent aside and a familiar waterbender had busted in through the sealed door leading the metalbending police close behind.
"Get out of here." Korra elbowed Noatak but he was already on his way, disappearing in the shadows.
"I shall see you later, Avatar." He murmured only loud enough for her to hear as he vanished.
Korra nodded quietly then turned her attention back to the arriving backup, looking at the leading bender with surprise.
"Tahno?" She looked confused but he seemed to be there to help.
"Seems we are late for the action." He spoke with his typical suave sly voice. "And here I was hoping you wouldn't get caught so easily, little girl."
"The heck is that supposed to mean?!" Korra's voce was unnecessarily loud.
"Calm down, Avatar Korra. Mister Tahno gave us some valuable information, if it were not for him we might not have found this place." Chief Beifong was walking up to Korra while surveying the defeated attackers.
"Oh wow, thank you so much! You're just in time…to take out the trash that is." The sarcasm dripped from every word and as the excitement faded her head was beginning to pound heavily.
"You seemed to have done fairly well…Though I find hard to believe you handled all this alone." The Chief gave her a skeptical scowl as her officers rushed forward to arrest the attackers.
"What's happening at City Hall?" Korra asked to deflect the subject, though her eyesight began to blur around the edges.
"We managed to catch two assailants but as for the victims…" Beifong paused. "Are you alright, Korra?"
Korra didn't get to answer as she collapsed in the Chief's arms, fainting slowly but surely, unaware of how pale and ragged she looked with blood caked in her hair, singed and ripped clothing, bruises, angry blistering burns and a crooked leg swelling at alarming rate.
~~~~~~.:oOo:.~~~~~~
The Avatar slowly regained consciousness in a room that was not her own. There was dusky sunset light washing in through a hexagonal window above her head and everything in the simple sparsely furnished quarter seemed sterile and clean. She assumed she must have been out for most of the afternoon.
She tried to sit up slowly and hissed in pain. Her head was hammering and she could feel a bandage around it, she also noticed her hair was loose; she saw that somebody had dressed her in a simple white robe but that didn't matter, what mattered was that her body felt bruised and drained although there were only a few light marks, the blistering burns seemed to have been water-healed down to just a stingy red irritation and her ankle was back in place with the swelling almost gone though it was still set with bandages as well. She assumed she probably felt worse than she looked.
The door slid open with a creaky whoosh and a young woman who was about to walk in stopped in her tracks.
"Oh, you're awake. Good." The young woman had dark blue eyes and black hair and was clad in a pale kimono. She turned and waved down a corridor. "She's awake."
In moments all her friends were barging in- Asami ran inside with Pema while Mako and Bolin were so hasty that Mako stumbled onto Asami and Bolin clumsily fell face first on the floor while Pabu scuttled over his back in surprise. Tenzin, Katara and Chief Lin were in the rear looking calmer than the others as if only they knew the extent of the injuries.
"Korra! We were so worried." Asami moved close sporting a nasty bruise on her jaw and a bandaged wrist.
"Yaah, wash ware you shinking?" Bolin spoke into the floor before getting up and shaking his head, letting the fire ferret settle on his shoulder. "I mean, what were you think? Going after the guys alone and all…You should have called us!"
"Knowing Korra that's just the problem- she didn't think, she just acted." Mako put in while moving next to Asami, looking concerned himself.
"How are you feeling?" Pema asked with deep worry.
"I'm ok. My head hurts and I'm exhausted but I'm fine." Korra chose to ignore the other comments even though they were making her flush a little with shame. She really could have called Mako and Bolin for help.
Everybody exchanged doubtful looks but the Avatar just looked straight at Katara with a grimace. She didn't like the look in her old master's face and she really starting to worry both of the life inside her and the fact that whoever treated her might have revealed her condition. Now that she really looked back, her impulsive choices had really been stupid but she wouldn't regret them, she had been responsible, as Avatar, to do something and she was glad the hoodlums were caught.
Katara noticed Korra's intense gaze and glided to Korra's bed, discreetly placing a hand on the Avatar's stomach as a pretext to grab her hand in comfort.
"I'm so glad you are alright, Korra." The old woman spoke gently.
"I'm sorry for the worry." Korra squeezed her master's hand out with gratitude and looked at everyone a little self-consciously as she spoke to all in general.
"Woah, Korra apologizing for kicking ass?! You must have taken a real hard blow to the head!" Bolin gushed out.
"Bolin." Mako spoke flatly and Asami shot him a little glare making Bolin shrink.
"Ah…Too soon...?" He pointed at the corner. "I'll be over there…Hitting myself in head for my big mouth." He grimaced and Pabu tilted his confused little head, sniffing the air.
"It's ok, Bolin." Korra smiled before she turned her attention to Chief Beifong and Tenzin. "So what all happened?"
"Perhaps we should talk about this after you are better rested?" Tenzin's voice was coaching and hesitant.
"Just tell me. Is everyone alright? Any casualties? What the heck was Tahno doing there?" Korra shot the questions in rapid succession.
"There were no casualties. We had three severe injuries and about six minor injuries, the worst was Councilman Gan-Lan who will be hospitalized a few days under police protection but he will be just fine and everyone is alive." Chief Beifong spoke as if placing a report but with a softer and less official tone. "All the attackers are in police custody and currently being interrogated, they do not seem willing to collaborate but we have ascertained that they are all from the Triple Threat Triad but claimed to have been hired for this by an outsider, they refuse to supply further explanations. Mister Tahno seems to be related to a Triad member and heard of the ambush on you at last minute, he came to us with the information and led us to the scene, risking his own exposure." Lin finished and crossed her arms; something still seemed to be on her mind.
"Ugh, why don't they ever talk?! They were caught red handed anyway!" Korra rolled her eyes in annoyance.
"I would have to agree with you there. We would go easier if they confessed but they seem to fear repercussions badly enough to clam up completely." The Chief agreed before adding softly- "Someone has them scared."
Korra rubbed her left temple distractedly, he head was pounding more and she was starting to miss Pema's miracle tea since her stomach was rolling in knots again.
"I have a question!" Bolin had his hand in the air like a good little school boy and when Korra consented he spoke again. "How did you beat fifteen well organized dudes before the police got there?"
"She didn't." Chief Beifong answered before Korra could and upon seeing the Avatar's offended expression she rolled her eyes and explained. "The attackers admit to have attacked the Avatar as was planned, though they won't say why, but they all state that they would have won if she hadn't had a helper."
Korra swallowed convulsively, nearly choking on her own breath. She really didn't like where the conversation was heading and was desperate to change the subject.
"Wait, 'a helper'? As in ONE helper? Two against fifteen? Who the heck is that good?" Mako was looking from Beifong to Korra, his interest was sparked.
"Apparently someone on par with the Avatar herself. However, they claim they could not see the man's face." Lin seemed to simply be recounting facts but she was still staring intently at Korra.
All eyes turned to the Avatar expectantly, they wanted to know and she didn't, she couldn't, tell. She briefly considered feigning another faint spell to get them distracted but she knew it would be way too obvious. She began to panic and bit her lower lip nervously not knowing what to say.
"Well, um…" Korra's eyes flickered away avoiding any eye contact.
"Who was it, Korra?" Even Asami was asking curiously.
A small pathetic shred of an idea sparked in her brain and she looked very purposely at Asami, hoping her friend would catch the hint and help her out.
"He was…a ghost." Her indicated an edge of sarcasm but she still stared at Asami, widening her eyes very slightly as a warning.
"What? What are you talking about?" Tenzin was the first of the confused audience to voice the questions.
Asami shifted a little, nodding almost unnoticeably. She had gotten the tip and apparently so had Katara. Both woman seemed to be trying to think of a way to deflect the matter.
"It's kinda…complicated." Korra rubbed the sore back of her head. "He's an old…friend."
"Could you perhaps clarify that, Korra?" Lin was tapping her fingers on her forearm impatiently.
"Sorry, can't. He wants to remain anonymous." Korra burst out, unable to find a better excuse.
"That seems fairly suspicious." Mako put in, siding with the Chief of Police.
"Ah, leave her alone. If you can't trust the Avatar with someone's identity then who can you trust? He saved her, that's what matters, right?" Asami put in, giving Mako a warning little glare.
"I'm sorry but it's my duty to investigate this matter to its full extent, how do we know this person had no involvement in the incident?" Beifong placed her hands on her hips looking commanding and determined.
"Lin, dear, perhaps we should leave this conversation for a different occasion? Korra needs some rest, her head injury is probably causing significant pain." Katara spoke gently in Korra's defense but there was an edge of command in her voice.
"Well…Fine." The Chief gave in. "But we will still be talking about this, Avatar."
"Sure thing, Beifong." Korra tried to grin but her head really did hurt too much so she just grimaced.
~~~~~~.:oOo:.~~~~~~
(Author's Note: I'd like to thank my sister for feedback and the ideas she gave me, thank goodness the toilet reminds her of Tahno. xD )