People like to say that it's easier to face your fears than run from them. Well, when your fears blow up the Probending Championship while it's being guarded by the most elite cops and benders in the whole United Republic and escape on military-grade airships afterwards, running the hell away starts to look like an appealing notion.
As shitty as Republic City has always been, what I see walking down the street now is a thousand times worse than it was. At least in the past, you didn't walk past huddles of people crying or muttering in paranoid fear every block. At least the cops weren't everywhere, all the time, stopping people at checkpoints and demanding credentials with the slightest inkling of suspicion. Nonbenders get the worst of it, of course, and for each nonbender that's pinned to the ground and searched by the coppers, there's another convert to Amon's revolution.
I don't know what's worse: knowing that the damned Revolution is coming and being frustrated that no one seems to care, or being in the middle of a war and witnessing the breakdown of civilization.
Every day that passes, Republic City becomes more deserted. The steady stream of wealthy benders fleeing the city has expanded to a torrential exodus as anyone who has the means to leave does; bender and non-bender alike. At least in the expansive countryside of the United Republic, there are places to hide.
In theory, at least. The truth is that it's getting bad everywhere. It's everywhere; the newspapers, the radio, the casual talk on the streets all point towards the Equalist crisis. Student protests in Ba Sing Se end in bloodshed when Dai Li agents shoot rock-spikes at the crowd of nonbending students. Violence between the Triads and the Equalists in the Fire Nation forcing the Firelord to mobilize the armed forces. Equalist cells being coldly and cruelly dismantled by Chief Unalaq in the Northern Water Tribe.
For me, the complete breakdown of society isn't as harsh as it is for others. Society never really wanted me in the picture anyways, so I'm not as torn up by its departure. Yet having to be on guard every hour of every day is becoming a little tiring, and my supply of booze is being depleted at a quicker level than usual, which I guess is the best sign of my growing stress than anything else.
Through it all, though, Jasha has been the one spot in my life that gives me some modicum of hope. Despite the fact that most of the people I've cared about in my life have made it clear they don't want me around, it's the woman who betrayed me to a Triad boss that has stayed around. I'm not even sure what we are to each other- I mean, we've slept together a few more times and we generally get a little intimate whenever we're around each other, but I don't know if labeling that is all too important considering the war going on.
Today, however, I'm content to wake up in my bed to find her sleeping peacefully, curled against me and entwined within my arms. It's a nice feeling, I'll admit, and one I'm utterly unused to. Usually, my sexual escapades are a one-night type of deal, but with her, it feels different. Sure, I want to push her up against a wall whenever I see her, but the soft stuff that comes afterwards isn't a chore anymore, like it was with other partners.
I've never been all that stable to begin with, and my feelings being all weird isn't helping my case all that much. Not to mention my attempt to lower my consumption of booze.
I sit up, swiveling out of the warm embrace of Jasha and my covers and slip a shirt and pants on, taking a deep swig of water as the pounding headache that has become a norm for me ever since I tried cutting back on my drinking twinges painfully.
The pile of documents, notes, and scribbled pages on my desk is larger than it ever has been before, but as always, the scrawled handwritten note that I found at Napua's house all those weeks ago is prominent. Its message is rewritten time and time again on napkins, takeout containers, and scraps of paper in desperate attempts to analyze and decipher every morsel of information.
You've done well. Preparations are nearing completion. Continue undercover assignment. Equalists should be encouraged to succeed. Will pave the way for HC. Destabilization of URN essential for future plans. More funds to follow.
-Freedom
Other scraps- her apartment, her office at the Republic City Herald, the man in the gray coat- all of it, pointing to something that just gives me a bad feeling. With her rhetoric and her sketchy activities, along with the notes, the most clear solution is that she's somehow involved with the Equalists. The chi-blocker attacking me in Taku supports that hypothesis to be sure, but it just feels… empty.
I grunt in frustration. Nothing adds up; there has to be something deeper.
"I know that face," Jasha's voice rings out clear as the morning sun.
I look at her, smiling tightly.
"I just… there's something deeper happening here. I know it. It feels like last time, except for the fact that I'm pretty sure you're not leading me into a trap again. At least, I hope not."
Napua laughs lightly, slipping into a sleek robe. She crosses into my somewhat-less-dirty kitchen, fills a teapot, and puts it on a burner with a practiced ease.
"Give it time. Arun is still gathering his intelligence, and with all the chaos lately, it's not like an ambitious reporter like Napua will be eager to pack up and leave. The answer is out there, Rai, and I know you'll find it."
I smile tersely, and stride towards the bathroom intently.
"I hope you're right."
Zhang Park is everything you need in a park: it's well maintained, pretty to look at (even this deep into Autumn), and full of every variety of shady character you could imagine. Its close proximity to the headquarters of the Triple Threat Triad certainly doesn't help its clientele either.
I sit still enough, tossing chunks of soggy bread to the cluster of Rooster Pigeons clucking around me as the cold rain falls, pattering onto my coat and hood with a steady patter. After a while, a figure in a swanky blue outfit joins me.
"Long time, Tep. How you been?"
"Yeah, yeah. Let's just skip to the part where you tell me what you need and I tell you how I can't do it unless you pay me more pinkbacks."
"You nervous or something, Tep?"
Tired Tepeu looks at me with his trademark expression of agitated world-weariness.
"You're damned right I'm nervous. Those gasbags in the Council let that masked freak and his army infiltrate and destroy the Probending arena, Shady Shin, Lightning Bolt Zolt, and Kiki Jalali all lost their bending, and now Hiroshi Sato is on the lam because he was an Equalist. Half the damned Triad has skipped town and the rest of us are potential targets. Fiery Hells, I'm half-tempted to turn myself to your old boss Beifong for extra protection."
I rummage in my coat and offer the man a cigarette, which he gratefully takes and lights himself, sucking in the fumes desperately.
"It was a dumb question," I say soothingly "Look, I'll get to it. I'm on a case right now, the mark is someone I think may be involved with the Equalists. Her name's Napua, she's a writer. What I need to know is any intel the Triads have on these bastards. You've gotta have something, they've been hitting you guys the worst."
Tepeu sighed, tapping the ash from his cigarette.
"Look, Rai, I say this as a friend," he says, talking over my indignant scoff. "Money ain't gonna worth a damn anymore. If I was you, I'd be more concerned with getting your rear out of this spirits-forsaken town before the Equalists nab you too."
"It's important, alright? Anyways, I'm not leaving. The Equalists want to push me out of Republic City, they'll have to kill me," I say hotly.
He scoffs. "Spirits, you sound just like Tak. Look, we ain't exactly got a full-fledged network out on these guys, alright? We're just trying not to disintegrate."
"You saw Tak?" I ask.
Tepeu rolls his eyes.
"That's what you got from that? Spirits, you're hopeless. Look, I might have something for you, alright? Viper sent Merry Maiore down into the sewers to check on a stash of cactus juice we got stored away. She went missing for nearly two days, came back beat up half to death, raving about terrorists in the sewers, alright? According to her, the Equalists have a whole network of underground hideouts and tunnels they're using to stock up on supplies and move troops for the Revolution or whatever. She might be crazy, but I know Merry, and she ain't the most imaginative gangster in what's left of this town."
"It would make sense," I point out. "There are thousands of miles of tunnels running underneath the city, there's no way the cops can watch them all. Plus who knows how much expansion they've done? The Equalists have good tech, I don't doubt they could carve out their own little world down there. Spirits, if they control the underground, they could hit anywhere."
"Tell me something I don't know. I gotta go anyways. You got cash?" He asks flippantly.
"I thought you said cash wasn't gonna be worth anything?" I ask, bemused.
He rolls his eyes and I stuff a roll of bills in his hand as he trudges away.
I watch the gangster walk away and am surprised by the pang of sadness in my gut. For all of Tep's faults- and they are many- he's still one of the only people I know decently well in this city. Sure, he's a gangster, but in a city like this, there's not a whole lot of point in discriminating.
A few days later, when I finally get signaled by Arun, my case almost seems to be overshadowed by the news that the Equalists snatched Avatar Korra, of all people. It's funny, despite my skeptical attitude towards the girl, her getting captured has actually made me feel a little scared. She might be a water tribe rube or something, but I admire her determination to take shit from nobody. Plus, the fact that the Equalists hit City Hall and Councilman Tarrlok while managing to kidnap the Avatar is a somewhat disconcerting revelation.
The signal comes to me as it had when I used Arun's services in the old days; the appearance of a small plant in a red pot on the roof of the building across from my apartment.
When I finally find a seat on that night's Red Line train going to South Bayside Borough, I'm joined by a fairly innocuous-looking woman dressed in a maroon coat who settles into the vacant seat beside me abruptly about twenty minutes into my ride.
"Who dances the Camelephant Strut on the weekends in the North Pole?" she asks, as casually as if she were discussing the weather.
"Surely such a thing would be unheard of," I reply tentatively, hoping I remember the code phrase correctly.
Somehow- I'm not exactly sure- a slim paper folder finds it way onto my lap as the woman disappears back into the crowd of late-night train riders, ending the subterfuge as abruptly as it had begun.
In the folder are two lines of text, written in Arun's clean handwriting.
1787 Ru Boulevard, Apt. 2, Dragon Flats Borough.
The Equalists have you on a hit list. Watch your back. -A
The moment I walk into my apartment, I know something's wrong. The window's opened fully when it definitely wasn't before, and the whole place is dark and cold. More than that, though, it's pure gut instinct. A lifetime spent in law enforcement and the military hones the senses to an extent, and I know my apartment well enough to know I'm not alone.
I step forward softly, a flame sprouting to life in the palm of my hand as I walk down the entry hallway towards my cluttered living room.
By the time I hear the weighted Bolas hurtling towards me, I'm unable to react in time, and the thrown rope-weapons entangle my torso and legs, sending me hurtling to the ground painfully. The three chi-blockers hiding in my room emerge from the darkness like nightmares, and cold fear ripples down my back as their baleful green eyes stare into my soul.
The quick, pointed jabs to my arms, legs, and torso leaves me feeling numb and exhausted, my limbs- and bending- useless. Then, as the lead chi-blocker, a woman, leans down to pick my limp body up, the door opens again, a rectangle of orange light illuminating the three Equalists huddled over my paralyzed body. I crane my head around, only to see, with a shock of terror, that Jasha is standing there, a bag of groceries in her arm.
For a moment, there is no movement. Then, in a flurry of activity, the groceries fall from Jasha's arm as she sprints forward, the flash of a knife appearing in her hand as the Equalists recoil in surprise. Then, in a kinetic explosion of flashing blades and pointed jabs, Jasha leaps into the fray, fending off attacks from the Equalists while slicing at anything she can see.
She's good, I notice. Evidently her time with the Red Crawler Triad taught her hand-to-hand combat. Yet the strain of the fight is already beginning to show; three on one aren't good odds on a good day, and the Equalist chi-blockers press their advantage relentlessly.
As Jasha is backed towards the open door to the hallway, I struggle with my bonds desperately, basic movement slowly returning to my limbs. I try to bend unsuccessfully and instead wriggle, somewhat pathetically, on the ground like a koi fish.
Then, outside, the siren of a police car blares startlingly loud and the Equalists falter. For Jasha, this momentary pause is all she needs, and the hilt of a knife sprouts from the chest of the lead Equalist. The other two stare at the collapsing form of their comrade for a moment, as if in shock, before glancing at each other, withdrawing smoke bombs, and fleeing with explosions of pungent smoke.
I cough violently as Jasha rushes over to me, retrieving her knife from the Equalist's chest with a sickening squelch and cutting me free just as my vision starts to falter from the smoke and lingering effects of the chi block.
"Spirits, Rai, are you-"
I black out.
The graveyard is as secluded as anywhere can be on the Mainland, especially so close to the Capital City. The tall volcanic mountain that houses the Capital rears up in the distance, about as tall as a grown man, wreathed in tropical steam and fog. The graveyard, however, just outside the city of Enyako, is quiet. The faint sounds of Satomobiles can be heard from the city streets in the distance, but it is outweighed by the crash of the ocean on the beach below the Cemetery and the twittering of the wildlife.
I stand on the cliff overlooking the sea. A flotilla of fishing ships and recreational yachts chug through the crystal-blue waves. In the sky, several airships float lazily by, bound for the Capital or some other trading port in the United Republic or beyond.
I take it in and savor my cigarette. It's a new habit for me, one I picked up from the hundreds of packs of Painted Ladies that have been included in standard-issue Fire Nation rations. Plus they make me feel good, so why not?
I register approaching footsteps and glance over at my brother Lee, who's approaching me. I glance backwards at the gravesite, where my father and a gaggle of his stuck-up friends and a woman I'm pretty sure is his mistress are standing around my mother's grave.
"Can I get a drag of that?" he asks, with a tight smile.
I chuckle and pass it over. He takes a deep drag, holding the smoke in his lungs for several seconds before letting out a long, shaky breath. He passes it back to me, his hands sliding into his pockets.
"Nice uniform," he says, glancing at my military dress uniform. The black and red uniform is tough in the heat, and my collar and top lace is undone. A momentary relief.
"Figured Mom would appreciate it," I say.
"She was proud of you. No matter what Dad said, she was always proud of you."
"Mmm. Even when I came out?"
Lee hesitates for a moment.
"She came around. Military traditionalism is tough to beat. She ended up being more accepting than Dad, anyways."
I say nothing, closing my eyes as the cool, salty sea breeze gusts against me. Then, tapping the ash from my cigarette, I open my eyes.
"I'm leaving."
Lee says nothing.
"When?"
"Tomorrow. I take the ship to Daihu Jing Island, then Zhengfu Island, then Republic City."
"Republic City, huh?" he says, his voice slightly downtrodden.
"Yeah. I figure I can take my back pay and start anew in Republic City. Maybe become a cop or something."
"City of Dreams. Makes sense. Always knew you'd move on."
"You gonna be okay?" I ask, hesitantly. I worry for my brother. My father still thinks he can shape Lee into something 'productive'.
"I'll be fine. I've dealt with him so far. Plus, I'll be off to Kawade University soon enough. Maybe I'll join you in Republic City for a foreign term."
I look at him for a moment, then smile, pulling him to a hug.
"Know yourself, Lee. As long as you know who you are, he can't hurt you. Mom taught us that."
He nods, and I turn around, pausing for a moment as I walk towards the road lined with Satomobiles. I make eye contact with my father. With his sharp, pointed beard, thick eyebrows, and cold gray eyes, he tries to disapprove as he always has. When I was kid, I would shrink right about then from his cutting words of abuse.
Now, I simply glare, and continue on, the pang of guilt lingering in my chest.
I'm a coward.
I wake up with a start, my limbs and body aching as panic seizes me. I look around frantically for the chi-blockers, my hands sizzling as my adrenaline pumps. I regard my surroundings; I'm in a shabby hotel room somewhere, and judging by the light, it's early morning.
At the window to the room stands Jasha, who stares out the window, her hand clasped to her face in shock. Then, suddenly, the entire room shudders and a distant thoom echoes through the window.
"What in the name of all the Hells is happening?" I ask, raspily, standing up unsteadily.
As I join her by the window, I see what she's staring at, and my heart sinks. From our room, the distant downtown is wreathed in pillars of smoke and the distant flashes of explosions. Approaching the downtown, from the mountains, rises a fleet of advanced warships, all emblazoned with the sigil of the Equalists. The streets, thronged with confused bystanders, is already bedecked by the red banners of Equalists sympathizers.
A/N:
Hey everyone,
I apologize for the extreme wait. I don't want to waste your time with excuses other than to say that trying to finish up two collegiate degrees and writing Fanfiction are not the most compatible pursuits for a student. This is, after all, a hobby at the end of the day and unfortunately in the ever-growing lists of daily tasks, writing ends up either at the bottom or shuffled off the list completely.
In any case, I know this is a pretty short chapter after the very long wait you've all had to endure and is a bit scatterbrained. I really struggled with moving the plot along; this time, my habit of only loosely outlining my stories kind of backfired.
As always, if the long stretches of inactivity mean you need or want to move on, no hard feelings. Any feedback you have is welcome. I also wanted to say I appreciated all of your comments inquiring as to the status of this story. I know as a consumer of Fanfiction that abandoned fics are all-too-common and almost always tragic; I will endeavor to make sure this story does not go the same way. I have plans for where I want this story to go eventually and some pretty exciting plotlines in the future, but it does get difficult to maintain the 'noire' tone and Rai's perspective. On that topic, if anyone is interested in being a Beta for this series, feel free to reach out. I try my best to self-edit, but it's tough to do that alone sometimes.
Anyways, this note has gone on too long, so I'll wrap up by saying that I have also, as part of my wandering attention span, begun conceptualization of some other series that I may tease in one way or another. I plan to put teasers in my profile if you're interested.
As always, I thank you all for your feedback, readership, and patience. I really do feel bad for how infrequent my updates to this story have been and while I can't by any means say that updates will be more regular (I've tried that), I can say that this story is frequently on my mind and I am working on the next chapter for you guys.
Best wishes,
IGdude117
