Before i get started just wanted to thank rainfallMyth for reviewing, thank you for your kind words! i do try to make all the characters act the same way they normally would in the legend of Korra though I'm sure I'll make a mistake or two in the future, I'm glad that for now i'm doing alright. Thanks again and i hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 18

Fear has gripped the city since the attack at the probending arena. Dread has spread throughout every citizen as the police force had proven to be powerless against the Equalist threat. True to her word, Tarrlok did use this situation to try an oust Chief Beifong from her position but Tenzin kept his promise and prevented such act from happening. Despite this, Tarrlok had made it clear to Lin, she is on very thin ice. One more screw up and she can kiss her badge goodbye. That is why when she was informed of a tip on Cabbage corp warehouse housing Equalist weaponry, she remembered the Red spirits claims on Hiroshi Sato and decided to instead have two police officers track down the informant and had him investigated. Soon enough they had found that he was associated with Equalist sympathizers and with further interrogation, had confessed to being a part of a group who planted the materials in Cabbage Corps warehouse to frame them. Though when asked who the real supplier was, they claimed to not know. She slams her fist on her desk. She's beginning to believe the vigilante, but she still doesn't have anything that merits a warrant for Sato. She's exits her office and heads down to the analysts in search of one man.

"Karnak."

He looks up from his files.

"My office now."

A minute later she shuts the door behind him and locks the door.

"What can I help you with Chief?" he asks, still pretending like she doesn't know. But same as Sato, she doesn't have any evidence to prove it. Which is infuriating!

She grits her teeth, "I need you for an assignment, one that's just between us."

"Is this off the books?"

"Preferably."

He nods, "What does it entail?"

"I need you to investigate Hiroshi Sato for me?"

"The CEO of future Industries? Why?" he asks and she can see the mocking behind his eyes.

"Watch it." She warns.

He relents.

"Just dig and see what you can find, I'm giving you full clearance on this one, no record is untouchable, no files will be redacted, no blueprint hidden. I need to know everything."

His eyebrows shoot up, "Full clearance?"

"Anyone gives you trouble send them my way I'll deal with it."

Karnak is actually grateful for this, it means less time trying to break in at night and risk unwanted attention and easier faster access to vital information.

"I'll do my best, you have my word."

She just grunts, "Alright now get the hell out of here."

He complies and begins to leave the precinct but of all people, he once again runs into none other than,

"Korra?"

"Oh hey Karnak." She salutes.

"What brings you to the precinct?"

She sighs, "Just some more debriefing with the police, giving them anything I can remember about the attack. Gosh, I still can't believe that happened."

"Amon's a madman, a very dangerous one at that, no one could've expected him to go as far as he did."

"Yea but I still played into his hand! I helped convince the council not to cancel the finals!" she says.

Karnak gestures for her to walk with him and they exit the building.

"Why did you not want it canceled anyway?"

"w-well it was to show solidarity, that when there's danger the right answer isn't to run away from it."

"That sounds nice but I don't think that's the real reason." He replies and she's instantly defensive.

"Oh what and you know me so well?"

"no but like I told you before, I can see through the bullshit and you"re really bullshitting me right now."

"I so am not bullshitting you!"

"Yes you are!"

"Am not!"

Karnak takes a breath and faces her, "ok enough of that. You know what I think, I think that you did it because you wanted to take part in the finals yourself. I think you've spent so much of your life being told what to do and when to do it to the point that you felt caged in. And now that you finally had the freedom to experience something for yourself you didn't want to let it go. So you fought it. And people died. And now you can't help but feel guilty."

Korra glowers at him while grabbing him by the collar "I'd keep my mouth shut if I were you, you don't know anything about me!"

Karnak isn't fazed and he rolls his eyes, "Oh please, I know everything about you. You are so easy to read. You're like an open book, written for 5 year old kids…that're dumb."

Every fiber in Korras being wanted to thrash and hurt this man but to be honest with herself, he was right. She loved probending. She loved how fun it was and how relaxed she felt doing it. And she just couldn't bear having that taken away from her.

He senses that he hit the nail on the head, "Look I'm not gonna try to free you from the guilt or anything, I wouldn't know what to say. You're just gonna have to live with it and learn to make up for it."

"… how do I do that?"

"That's for you to find out. This Avatar stuff, it's tough business. But you seem to be a pretty tough girl. Am I wrong?"

"Hell no!" she says with a smirk.

"Attagirl."

They smile… then Korra knees Karnak right in the balls.

His eyes widen and he growns and doubles over for a second while cradling his groin. He furiously glares at the smirking avatar.

"The hell was that for?!"

"for comparing me to a kids book!"

"Oh I can think of so much worse to compare you too right now." He grumbles.

And now it's Korra's turn to roll her eyes, "Big talk for a guy in a standing fetal position."

He fixes himself up, ignoring the pain. "Well I hope you enjoyed that cause trust me, you won't be doing that again."

She simply raises an eyebrow, "That a threat?"

"A promise."

She chuckles at his response before changing the subject.

"How you handling this stuff?"

He shrugs, "Just more paperwork to deal with honestly. The arena was a mess."

"… how bad was it?"

"I'm not gonna tell you."

"I need to—"

"no you don't." he says with finality.

She would argue, but he's right, she's only gonna end up torturing herself about it.

"So what's the avatar doing now that probending isn't an option anymore?"

She groans, "Mako's girlfriend invited me over to her mansion to basically watch them suck face."

Karnak stops in his tracks, "you're talking about Sato, Asami Sato right?"

"Yea?" she looks at him weirdly.

Fuck.

"What you got a crush on her too?"

"No! nothing like that just… be careful I mean you know rich people can sometimes act a way." He says sheepishly.

"Yea… ok." Then she asks him, "What about you?"

Karnak looks at the Future Industries building, "I got some work to do tonight."

True to his word Karnak did get to work right away. He enters the municipal building that's holding said files of Future Industries and gets to the receptionist.

"I'm here about the records concerning Hiroshi Sato."

"One second please." The receptionist says, barely giving Karnak time to acknowledge her as she instantly attaches herself to a phone.

He waits while before a man that Karnak rightly assumes to be the Receptionists superior walks behind the counter.

"Hello, what business do you have with Mr sato's private records?" he asks haughtily.

"It's for an investigation. We're concerned that Future Industries may under threat of being framed for Equalists ties in the same manner that Cabbage Corp was. We'd like to know as much as we can in order to prevent any mishaps." Karnak smoothly explains.

But the manager doesn't seem to be convinced, "Well I can say with Certainty that neither Future Industries nor Hiroshi Sato has any ties with those dreaded Equalists. Now that we have established that you can be on your way."

He turns away but Karnak firmly catches him by the elbow, "Unhand me yo—"

"Listen here. I am under direct orders of Chief Beifong to handle this investigation will full clearance to any and all records and files. Anyone preventing me from doing so will be charged with obstruction of justice and, if further investigation proves it, aiding and abetting the Equalist movement. You can call Chief right now if you still don't this investigation seriously, am I understood?"

They stare at each other for a tense moment before the older man relents and personally guides Karnak to the record room. He unlocks the door and Karnak walks into a large room completely filled with files and records of all kinds. Karnak scans the room before asking,

"So where are the records?"

The older just smirks, "That's for you to find out. I will also like to inform you that no records can leave this room."

"But I have full clearance."

"Yes full clearance for access to the records, not clearance to have possession of them." He slams the door shut at that.

Karnak curses at him in spite but shakes his head and gets to work trying to find Sato's records. After about a half hour of searching he does find it. Now to see if I can find anything suspicious. Karnak searches through everything. From where the first warehouse was established to even the first property bought by Future Industries. He then goes onto the future industries corporate expense records asset purchases from the past 15 year trying to find any increases of expenses of materials that could possibly be linked to their weapons manufacturing for the Equalists. But he still can't find anything. He runs his hand through his hair trying to think of what else he can investigate. Suddenly he gets an idea.

He opens the records that has the real estate listing of every property bought by Sato himself. So far, all he sees are purchase for garages, homes and penthouses but still nothing out of the ordinary. Dammit, this was a fucking waste of time! Guess I'll just have to break into his office or home to see if he kept anything close to chest. Sighing, Karnak starts putting away all of the files that were strewn about on the floor since there wasn't any table to use. As he is cleaning, something catches his eye. He reaches under a few papers and pulls out an old map of Republic City, but it seems to be focused at the city limits. With the coordinates matching to that of, Sato's Mansion? He looks at the date at it's one of the original maps made when construction of Republic City was first built. And if this map is correct then there seems to be a massive cave underneath the mansion itself. Perfect place to be retrofitted into a secret factory. Going by a hunch, Karnak rummages through the previous records and finds reports scattered through the years of missing shipments of different materials…materials that match up to the electric gloves that were confiscated from the arrested Equalists from the probending attack. I think I got it!

He needs to bring this to Chief Beifong so naturally, Karnak takes those specific files and hides them in the inside of his pants. He finishes cleaning up and exits the room, with the manager waiting impatiently.

"I hope you found what you were looking for." He says sardonically.

"Yea probably, as long as I can fill my report." And he leaves the building.

The manager watches him leave then quickly gets to his office and closes the door. He dials a number on the phone and waits for the call to be connected.

The gruff voice of the Lieutenant answers, "What is it?"

"We may have someone digging a little too deeply into our benefactor."

Precinct rooftop

Karnak opens the door to the rooftop and finds that Chief Beifong and Tenzin are already there… with Korra?

"What is she doing here?"

"Um hello to you too." Korra crosses her arms at that rude question.

Karnak shakes his head, "Not what I meant, don't we have a meeting?"

Tenzin replies this time, "Korra has some information that may pertain to your investigation."

The young ex assassin looks questioningly to the avatar who clears her throat and explains, "Earlier today when I went to visit Mako and Bolin at the Sato's mansion I overheard Hiroshi talking on the phone with someone. I didn't catch everything but I did hear him say to someone that everything was going exactly as planned, that even with Cabbage Corp not taking the fall they're still on schedule. And that by the end of the week they'll be ready to strike. Look I know it sounds crazy but I think Hiroshi Sato is somehow involved with the Equalists."

All 3 of them hare a look before Karnak addresses her, "It's not as crazy as it sounds."

He turns to lin and hands her the records he stole, "Right there is a map showing a large cave underneath the Sato Mansion and records of materials that were deemed lost shipments over the years that all match up to the materials needed to create the lectric gloves the Equalists are using. I believe that He may have retrofitted the cave into a secret factory and diverted these 'ost shipments' there to secretly build their arsenal."

"With no way to connect them all together." Tenzin continues.

"Unless someone was looking hard." Lin finishes.

Korra stares at Karnak, "Wow that… actually made snese. You're a lot smarter than you look."

Karnak gives her the stink eye, "and your intelligence definitely matches your opinion."

Korra sticks out her tongue and Karnak rolls his eyes.

"Focus please?" Lin interrupts, "This does gives us a plausible reason to search his house. And we now know where to look. With his motive, I think we can even considered this a certainty."

"Motive what motive?" Korra asks.

Tenzin explains the night of the break in to korra who is shocked to say the least.

"Raiding the Sato Mansion is a risky move with Tarrlok breathing down your neck." Tenzin notes. "If we're wrong here,-"

"You won't be." Karnak adds.

Lin shakes her head, "Even if we're right or wrong. If we don't handle this right, I can kiss my job goodbye. But protecting Republic city is all I care about. We can't let Amon get his hands on this new weapon."

Korra stands determined, "We won't fail!"

Karnak and Tenzin share a look and he begins to leave but Korra stops him.

"Hey where you going?"

"…Home?"

"What? But we need all hands on deck for this!"

"I agree… but I'm a CSI, not a cop and besides I'm a pacifist."

Korras eyebrows scrunch in confusion, "Abig guy like you is afraid to fight?"

"I'm not afraid to fight, I just don't like to fight. Besides What help could possibly for the city's best metalbender, the only Airbending master in the world, and the Avatar." Not to brag but I'm pretty sure I stand a fair chance but she doesn't need to know that.

"Yea you got a point there. Karnak here is really our meekest, most untrained guy on the force. In fact he regularly comes in with a black eye cause of how much of an easy picking he is sint that right Karnak?" Lin explains maliciously.

Karnak all but seethes as korra holds in her laughter. Instead he says, "Good luck Chief."

He leaves with that to get himself into his gear. If Hiroshi is still confident about their plans that means their going to make their move quickly. Which means their weapons and suits they have to fight the benders must be ready. He needs to get into his gear fast.

Thinking ahead has always been a beneficial action since it normally prevents certain situations from happening or if they do, you're at least prepared. Which is why Karnak is gladded he tagged along for the investigation, as the Red Spirit since it turns out he was right. It was a trap. Korra and the others found the mecha suits in the underground facility which then lead to Hiroshi sealing the room and coming out with another group of equalists inside their own mecha suit. From there it didn't take long for the fight to start. With Hiroshi being the first to attack by shooting out one of his grapplers. At first the fight seemed to be… equal. Neither side was able to gain an advantage, until the cables that the mechs were using starting to electrocute the cops.

Knowing it's time to intervene, Karnak scans over the mechas trying to see if he can find any weak points that he can exploit. The machines are pretty well protected, but I think the joints would be weaker then the rest so that it doesn't impede movement and the back has exhaust pipes attached to I think an engine, either way it's worth a shot. He quickly takes out a few shurikens between his fingers and shoots the closest mech right in the elbow area, imbedding itself deeply and causing the arm to fall uselessly to its side, freeing the cops that it was attacking, though they were already unconscious. The Red Spirit quickly moves to another position, having alerted everyone to his presence.

He vaults into the air and delivers a flying knee into the mech's glass cockpit. Though he surprisingly didn't go through, he nonetheless broke the glass enough to impede their vision, evening out the playing field. The glass must be reinforced, I'll have to use more force to break it next time. Despite this, they were still putting up a good fight. He goes up to the one he damaged, dodging the attacks it throws at him. When it raises its right arm, he jams a knife in the center of the hook right before it fires its grapple, cutting off the cables. He runs and slides between the legs, jumps up onto its back and drops a black powder bomb into its exhaust pipes before flipping off of it. The small bomb blows up with enough strength to damage the engine, leaving the suit immobile. He moves towards Korra whose struggling the most. "What the hell are you doing here?!" She yells as they both dodge the electrified bolas.

"Providing you with much needed assistance. I'll attack it's weak points, you deliver the finishing blow." He sprints and punches the knee of the mech with enough force to break it backwards knees and the mech tumbles down. Lin quickly attacks the back of the mech where the engine is, disabling this mech as well.

"We're handling it, Get out of here!"

"Most of your back up is down, you need me." He notices another mech sneaking up behind her. Before she retort, he pushes her out the way but was too late to avoid a swipe from the suit that hits him right in the chest and sends him across the room and into a stack of crates that fall apart onto him. He slips into unconsciousness shortly. Coming too he thinks oh Ow. That was a good shot I'll give them that. Groaning, he slowly gets up and walks through the wreckage. He's disappointed to see that Lin, Tenzin, and Korra are unconscious and the metalbenders are being rounded up into the trucks. So much for handling it. He notices Bolin and Mako not so subtly trying to rescue Tenzin and Korra. Are you fucking kidding me?! Those idiots are out in the open, anyone could see them! Right on cue, Hiroshi and the Lieutenant stop them. Mako speaks to him; "sponsoring our team. Supporting the Avatar. It was all just a big cover. Korra and Khan were right." He says with disgust.

"Yes. And the most difficult part was watching my Daughter traipse around with a firebending street rat like you!"

He and the lieutenant start towards them but a stopped by a voice; "Dad Stop!... why?"

"Sweetie, I wanted to keep you out of this for as long as I could, but now that you known the truth, please forgive me. These people, these… Benders" he says the word with as much venom as possible, " they took away your mother, the love of my life. They've ruined the world! But with Amon we can fix it and build a perfect world together! We can help people like us everywhere!"

He takes off one of his gloves and holds it out to her, inviting her to take it and join him. Karnak points his grapnel at Hiroshi, intent on using him as a bargaining chip to give the others a chance to escape, fully expecting Asami to give in to her father..

she looks at her father who smiles at her proudly. She tells him "I love you dad" and electrocutes him surprising Karnak more than anyone. The lieutenant attacks her, acting quick the vigilante shoots his Grapnel at him, catching him in his armored chest and reels him into his fist, brutally knocking him out. The Red Spirit runs over to them disabling another mech tank in the process by leaping into close proximity and then jumping onto the cockpit. The Pilot is frightened and flails which gives Karnak the opportunity to successfully punch through the glass and toss the pilot out.

Karnak then haphazardly turns the mech and drives it into any other mech, jumping out at the last second. The resulting crash gives the Bolin the opportunity to create a hole through the floor.

"Everyone in now!" he yells out.

The Red Spirit quickly picks up Lin and helps everyone into the hole. Once through, Bolin quickly closes it just in time to narrowly miss 2 electrified hooks.

Everyone is in the airship while Asami looks out the window sadly. The Red Spirit is tending to Lin's wounds, having had her remove her armor, with tenzin right beside him. "Where did you learn to take care of wounds?" Tenzin asks him.

"I've been around the world master Tenzin, every so often I'd pick up certain skills I deemed important." Having finished bandaging her torso and shoulder, Lin sits up and run her hand over her face, sighing; "My metalbenders are on their way to Amon. Tarrlok's right, I've failed as chief. First thing in the morning, im handing in my resignation."

Tenzin immediately protests; " No you can't give up like this."

She's actually offended; " I'm not giving up. I'm gonna find my officers and take down Amon. Outside the law," She turns to the resident vigilante, " and you're going to help me."

Both of them are surprised, " You want to work with me outside the law?"

"It's just like you said, desperate times call for desperate measures. You were right. This situation is out of hand and I can't take it on with the limitations that come with my job. And you may be the only person who I can rely on to combat it, despite our differences."

The Red Spirit is practically a statue as he stares at Lin; " Why should I trust the sudden change of heart? Before you said you only wanted to bend the rules not break them."

"I agree with the Red Spirit, this is quite the change Lin. Are you sure this is what you want to do?"

"Positive, and to answer you vigilante, you've proven to be quite capable in defeating whatever Amon throws our way. Besides it was you're idea to begin with. Why did you decide to that?" She asks with narrowed eyes as Tenzin gives Karnak a somewhat panicked look.

"An old… friend told me that I would need help for what's coming. I thought it'd be best to take his advice to heart."

Tenzin nods his head; " Well under normal circumstances I would advice against this, but I believe you're friend has a point."

The Red Spirit offers his hand to Lin who shakes it. "But know this, my earlier condition still stands, so if you even think about killing anyone, I will take you down, you understand?"

"yes, you have my word."

As they separate, Mako, Korra, Asami, and Bolin walk up to them. Korra moves in front of them, "Thank you for helping us there, but how did you know to be there?"

"I was already investigating Hiroshi Sato, by the time I arrived to his mansion I already noticed the airship and simply followed the trail to the underground facility."

Korra's eyes widened in alarm, "were you planning on killing him?! "

"No. I was n't planning to even be seen."

Before anyone can continue Bolin pops up in front of the Red Spirit.

"This is so cool! This is like the second time you've saved my life and it was even better than the first! I mean the way you take down that mech tank and without any bending! You're like a one man army, can I have your autograph?" Exclaims Bolin.

Karnak's eye twitches at the rapid fire manner Bolin had just talked but thankfully he's saved by Lin who cuts Bolin off.

"There won't be any autographs." She firmly states with a glare. Bolin backs off.

She turns to where the Red spirit was standing, "By the way when should we me—" they're all astonished to see that once again he is nowhere to be seen.

"… How did he do that!? That is so awesome!" Yells Bolin, jumping up and down.

Near Karnaks apartment

Karnak checks to make sure the alley is clear before exiting from the manhole that lead to the underground city. He heads to his humble abode while rubbing the spot that the necha tank had hit him on his chest. Those things may be slower than the Lieutenants suit but they still pack a punch. He makes up the flight of stares to his floor and finally gets to his door. But just as he opens it, he hears a very distinct and small clink. Noticing what the sound is he tries to back off but he's still caught in the ensuing explosion that emanates from his apartment.