Chapter 17
Now knowing Hiroshi Sato's involvement in the Equalists movement, Karnak would like nothing more than to storm his mansion and take him in by force. But for a few reasons he can't. The first being that it would be too reckless to do so, Hiroshi is arguably the most powerful and influential person in the city right now, it would take a significant amount of evidence to prove his involvement in a way that he would not be able to spin in his favor. The second reason being that he wouldn't be in his mansion tonight. Tonight is the pro-bending finals, the same finals that Amon had called to be cancelled. Karnak shakes his head, there's no way Amon would make an announcement concerning the finals if he didn't have a scheme that counted on the council not canceling the match. Right now the main priority is getting to the arena and try and prevent whatever plan Amon has from happening if possible. Then I get my hands on Sato.
With Lin and Tenzin in the Pro-Bending Arena
The atmosphere in the Arena is tense as excitement for the match has still brought the crowd in but the looming threat of the Equalists has put many of the citizens on edge and though there is the comfort of almost the entire metalbending police acting as security for whatever threat may come, it cannot quell the growing anxiety. Lin stands in one entrance of the arena checking each and every point that her subordinates are in, seeing if there's any cracks that can possibly be exploited. Tenzin appease and takes his place beside her.
"Match is about to start."
"I know, but I'm trying to keep myself from being distracted."
The crowd roars as the announcer begins introducing both teams.
Tenzin raises an eyebrow at the noise and all the jumping fans. "Somehow I believe that will be a difficult task."
"Don't start with me airhead." Lin remarks. Then an familiar voice catches both their attention.
"Clever joke."
Lin snaps into a fighting stance but can't pinpoint where the voice was coming from. She and Tenzin share a look before slowly creeping into the now empty hallway.
"Where are you you spineless bastard?"
"Up here."
Lin looks up and her eyes lock on to the red vigilante. Instantly her anger blazes and she begins to bend but Tenzin stops her.
"Wait a moment Lin!"
"What the hell are you doing!?"
"Preventing skirmish! If the Equalists are going to attack then we still need to be prepared and if you begin an assault on the Red Spirit now then it'll distract the rest of our numbers and give the Equalists a prime opportunity to catch us by surprise." Tenzin explains smoothly. He hates to admit, he's starting to get good at coming up with excuses on the fly.
Lin frowns deeply but can't argue with his logic.
"You're partner is correct. I also haven't come here to fight you."
"Then why are you here?"
"To warn you. You need to shut this down. The Equalists are fully prepared for you and your metalbenders will not stand a chance!"
"How dare you—"
"Listen! And understand! A couple hours ago I infiltrated one of their hideouts that was carrying their weapons, gloves that can discharge massive amounts of electricity and with how conductive your armor is, one touch will be all that's needed to take you all down!" he warns.
"And I'm supposed to trust you on your word? This could all be a lie and you could just be helping the Equalists!" Chief accuses.
But tenzin gets her attention, "Lin I think we should heed his warning. Whether or not it's a lie there's too much risk in not taking the extra precaution!"
Lin furrows her brow in defiance to both of them, "I draw the line when it comes to trusting the word of a murderer and expected better from you!"
The Red spirit drops down in frustration, "Listen goddammit! If you don't call off your men and shut this whole thing down there's no telling how many people could possibly die! Are you seriously willing to have that on your head?"
The two glare at each other, neither one making a move before Tenzin cuts in, "Please Lin, I do believe that this could be credible."
She grits her teeth, every fiber in her being still wants to argue but she relents..
"Fine, I'll send word out."
Lin heads towards the entrance to signal to her men a new set of orders. But she notices sparks dancing through the crowd, coming from… her metalbenders?
She's to focused on what's happening that she fails to notice an Equalist get up from his seat, deadest on her. Tenzin does and he makes to warn her but is too late. He and Lin are both dispatched by shocks from the Equalists electric gloves.
Karnak witnesses this and makes to help but hes rocked unconscious by an explosion from behind him that shoots him clear off the stands on into the water below.(AN)
It takes a couple minutes for Karnak to wake, his ears still ringing but thankfully he was floating on his back so he didn't end up drowning while unconscious. His hearing begins to clear and he hears the muffled sound of someone speaking on the microphone. He rights himself and swims closer to platform underneath the ring and steadies himself with it to catch his bearings. Soon enough his head clears and he catches the end of Amon's monologue.
"What is with people with power complexes always wanting to make such grand speeches." He grumbles.
He lifts himself out of the water and notices that the a lone Equalist is standing guard in front of Korra and her teammates and they seem to be tied up to the pillar. Fortunately, the Equalist doesn't seem ware of his presence. Karnak creeps behind and covers his mouth with his hand and lifts him over his shoulders and smashes him down to the ground, leaving him unconscious.
"Wow that was awesome and kinda scary!" bolin comments.
Korra looks at the Equalist uneasily, "he's not dead is he?"
"no but he will be very sore." The vigilante answers as he cuts them free of their bindings.
As soon as their free they stumble as more explosions rock the arena and the ring is destroyed. Korra's eyes widen and they all hear the sounds of the horrified screams innocent citizens in the Arena. She quickly becomes determined to take down Amon and rushes into the water.
"Wait korra! Dammit!" Karnak tries to calla fter her but she is already heading up top.
He turns to Bolin and Mako, "you to be smart and stay down here."
He doesn't wait for a reply as he runs and shoots the grapnel to the edge of the ring and jumps as he simultaneously reels the grapnel in. The momentum causes him to fly high into the air. He's able to get close enough to grab ahold of the mini platform that one of the equalist is using to escape in their airship. Said equalist tries to stomp him off, but Karnak catches his foot and crushes it, breaking ever bone in it before he throws him off and pulls himself up onto the platform which is brining him closer and closer to Amon. He looks over and sees Korra on one herself and she blasts the inside of the ship with fire. In retaliation, henchmen begin to pour down from the ship towards korra, kicking her off towards the glass below them. The Red Spirit looks at Korra then back at the ship.
This could be his only chance to get Amon. He looks back at Korra who's holding her own against the Equalists, but will soon be overwhelmed by their numbers, evenLin herself is struggling to keep up with remembers that he ahd promised himself to take care of Korra as penance. Times like this I wish I never grew a fucking conscience he snarls to himself. Making up his mind, Karnak dives down towards the fight, throwing his shurikens to multiple targets as he descends and taking down a significant amount of enemies before he lands in a tuck and roll. He hears a scuffle behind him and sees Lin Beifong fighting the lieutenant who has the advantage due to his electrified kali sticks making a big impact against her metallic armor. Though Karnak would love to have a rematch with the Lieutenant, he can't waste to much time and so chooses to simply throw a knife into the battery back of the lieutenants Kali sticks, giving Lin the enough breathing room to hold her own.
With his back turned, The Vigilante feels the hair on his neck stand up and he immediately dodges left, missing the chi blocking strikes that were aimed at him. He brings his hand behind his head and hooks it onto the equalists neck and heaves her over his head. Another equalist manages to wrap him in electrified bolas. Grunting in pain, he drops to one knee, but takes out a knife that was hidden in his boot and cuts off the rope. The two equalists run towards him but him somersaults over him and twist his body to simultaneously kick the both in the head then lands like a cat on the glass. Before they can get up, he throws two knives through their hands then punches them both hard enough for their heads to break through the glass. The sound of glass cracking catches his attention. He looks over just in time to see Korra scream as she falls through. He instantly dives after her, intent on catching her. He rapidly catches up to her and wraps an arm around her waist. Thinking quickly, he he randomly points his gauntlet in a wild direction and shoots it. Thankfully the grapnel anchors itself on a nearby ledge halting their fall. The sudden stop and awkward angle though pulls his arm right out of its socket. He grimaces but doesn't make a sound. They swing over to the now empty seats, landing safely.
"Are you okay, are you hurt?" He does his best to hide the concern in his voice and apparently it works.
"I'm fine, thanks for having my back." Korra says shakily due to the adrenaline rush she had experienced from her fall.
He looks up to see that the airship is long gone, much to his dismay. Right then, Mako and Bolin come up and Mako pulls Korra into a hug. "I'm so glad you're okay."
"Me too!" says bolin as he grabs them and pulls them into a big bear hug. Tenzin and
Lin both show up as well. Tenzin walks up to Karnak, who stands ready, wary of what the airbender will do given that he still has to act like he doesn't know who's under the mask.
"Though I do not approve of your methods nor your influence on the city, I thank you for your intervention and saving Korra's life. I'd hate to imagine what would 've happened had you not been there."
The Master bows in gratitude and The Red Spirit bows back in response. Bolin and Mako thank him as well, though Mako does so begrudgedly.
Bolin elbows his brother a little too hard cause of his excitement, "Can you believe it!? The Red Spirit! He's actually in front of us!" he starts fanning himself, "Ohmygodohmygodohmygod, I'm gonna cry!"
Mako just buries his face in his hand.
But Lin has a reaction. She stands up to him begrudgedly. " Hate to admit it, but you were right."
"I won't berate you for the choices you made. I understand you're not agreeable with taking orders from wanted men." The Red sprit replies.
"And I'll guess and say you're not big on taking orders from cops." She replies.
"Well I think we covered this pretty well." Korra states.
But Karnak has a different idea, "HIS," he gestures to the ruined arena, "Shouldn't have happened period."
The group gazes at the destruction and they all display various expressions of disgust. Many people were injured due to the explosions, some were even killed. Korra covers her mouth in horror as a little girl is crying, holding the hand of her mother who's head is underneath a large amount of debris that must've hit her in high speeds.
"Amon is dangerous and he just showed the entire city the lengths he will go for his cause. It truly pains me to say this chief, but I due believe that these desperate times call for desperate measures."
Mako butts in; "You aren't seriously going to listen to this guy, are you? He's a psychotic killer! You can't trust him!"
"dude he just saved our lives!"
"How many has he taken though!?"
"Guys look, I understand that the he has done some questionable things in the past.
But he wouldn't have saved me or us time and time again if he were truly evil. He's been fighting the equalist's for a while now and even has them running scared. I think we should give him a chance." Korra says, trying to give her two cents. She looks at the Red spirit warily, "It's like he said, Desperate times call for desperate measures. Either way, it would be pointless to fight on two front's when we should really be focusing on taking down Amon."
"Does that include killing him?" Inquires Lin.
There was a pregnant silence, "Amon is a dangerous man."
She tilts her head, "The same can be said about you."
The Red Spirit bites his tongue so as to not go on a tirade. He's getting really tired with having to deal with Lin's constant badgering. He's almost at the point where he just wants to flip off Tenzin and go back to dealing with this by himself. For a while though they glare each other down, waiting to see what the other's move will be. But, as always, Bolin finds a way to break the tension.
" A bit off topic, are you going to get yourself checked out? That arm doesn't look too good."
Everyone notices his right arm hang limply to his side for the first time. Without flinching, he brings his left hand to his shoulder, and sets it back in place. Everyone winces at the sight.
" We'll continue this conversation later. Meet me on the roof of the precinct."
"what makes you think I'd be inclined to doing so?" Lin asks this time out of curiosity.
"Because I know who the supplier is." All their eyes widen but suddenly, the vigilante throws a smoke pellet to the ground, covering the whole area and causing everyone to start coughing.
Once it subsides, everyone sees that the arrow has disappeared. "How does he do that?" Lin coughs out.
Later on at the precinct
Lin and Tenzin stand on the rooftop in an uncomfortable silence. The two still mulling over the events of the night.
"Can't believe I played right into Amon's hand."
"He played us all Lin. You can't bear the responsibility completely on your shoulders."
"Heh. I can actually. If I hadn't argued with that vigilante for so long, we might've had a better chance. And those poor kids would still have their bending." She balls her fists tightly, her knuckles becoming white.
They feel a shift in the air and when they look, there's the Red Spirit.
"Councilman. Chief."
"Vigilante."
There's another pause before Lin breaks it, "so out with it then. You said you knew who the supplier was."
"… Hiroshi Sato."
Lin and tenzin are dumbfounded, "Sato? Who told you that?"
"Same Equalist who… informed me of their weapons." He answers.
The other two think, "that's a very bold accusation."
"But is it far fetched? They told me about the gloves and they were right, chances are this is right too."
Tenzin nods, "he does have the means."
Lin chimes in, "and the motive." She realizes, "years ago when agni kais broke into his mansion, a fire bender killed his wife. It's possible he has harbored anti bending sentiment since then."
"Maybe we should look into mr Sato a little more closely." Tenzin says.
"I'm sensing it won't be so easy." Karnak deduces.
Lin sighs "You would be correct. I can't start an investigation on one of the most powerful men in Republic City on the word of a criminal. And with the hit my Reputation just took after the pro-bending fiasco, I'll be lucky enough that Tarrlok doesn't have me replaced."
"I will not allow such a thing to happen. That is the decision that the council has to have a unanimous vote to and I will not vote in favor of such an decision." Tenzin swears.
Lin nods in thanks but thinks deeply for a moment before sighing, "I can't believe I'm saying this… but I will work with you."
That actually catches Karnak by surprise, "But I want to be clear on this!" she adds in quickly, "I'll allow just this once, for you to bend the rules, not break them! You understand me!?" she gets in close to the vigilante, despite the height difference, she is not looking up from a weak position.
"That means if I find out you killed anyone, you're done."
"… Alright."
"then I guess this zeal is settled." Tenzin says, "What is the first plan of action."
"I'll see what I can find when it comes to Sato, see if there's a trail I can find that will be substantial enough to hint you towards. I can't go after him myself at least for a couple days since he was in the Arena during the attack and your men will be around him 24/7 for reports and security. Too much heat."
"Agreed, I say we go our separate ways in the mean time so as to not draw too much attenti—"
Tenzin notices that the Red Spirit is nowhere to be seen. He and Lin look around in confusion. "That's beginning to piss me right the fuck off."
"Lin!"
Authors note: Just wanted to say i know that the explosions didn't happen until after Amon's speech but i took the liberty of tweaking it anyway to fit why Karnak didn't go and lay a smack down on Amon mid speech. anyway hope you guys liked it, let me know what you think and i'll be adding the next chapter soon, just gonna finish tweaking a few things. Enjoy!