A/N/: Hey everyone! This chapter has a pretty slow start because I had to do some world building. It picks up pretty quickly after the page break, I promise!
Sokka should have known from the getgo that his relationship with Phoenix Enterprises was going to be strenuous at best. It had been easy to get a hold of the office. They'd been more than willing to work with the police to get to the bottom of this issue, too. The precinct in the upper ring and his own had taken on a partnership for the case. Jin had brought the case to the middle ring's attention, but in the end, it was the upper ring's jurisdiction. Sokka was happy that he at least got to be a part of the case. He had sent a few detectives over with the detectives from the upper ring's precinct to collect any preliminary information, and that had gone fine. They'd acquired a guest list for the party and a few statements from Jin's coworkers, but all in all, they'd come up empty. None of the people they'd talked to lead them to anything new.
Sokka figured he'd cross check and see if there was any missed information. He figured he'd go up to the corporate building himself. No problem. That was all fine and dandy. The problem lay in how long it took him to get an appointment. A fucking appointment. Who made the police get an appointment? But Sokka needed to talk to the man in charge of this branch of the company, a man named Long Feng, who was out of the country visiting the Fire Nation branch. He didn't know why he could go anywhere in the middle of an incriminating investigation against one of the company's higher ups, but he couldn't exactly stop him. So an appointment was all he got.
Phoenix Enterprises was intimidating. The corporate building stood like a tall, black obelisk in the center of the business district of Ba Sing Se's upper ring. It was imposing and dark with tinted windows that went all the way up to its highest floor. The only identifiable aspect of it was the name of the building emblazoned in gold by the front door. It stood out from the rest of Ba Sing Se. Hell, it stood out from the entire Earth Kingdom with its massive, black physique. Overall, it was ominous and spooky.
Sokka walked inside of the building and made his way to the front desk. Behind it sat a woman with long, dark hair. When she noticed Sokka's approach, she smiled broadly with a too-wide smile that made Sokka the slightest bit uncomfortable.
"Hello, I'm Joo Dee," she said. "How can I help you?"
"Hi. I'm Sergeant Sokka from the Ba Sing Se Middle Ring Police Department," he said with his own smile. "I had an appointment with Mr. Long Feng."
Joo Dee looked away from him for a moment to search her computer system. After she located whatever she was looking for, she gave him another one of those creepy smiles.
"I see you made your appointment to see him three weeks ago! That's good news! It's much faster than usual."
Sokka's brows lowered a fraction. "Much faster than usual? How long does it usually take?"
"A month."
"A month?"
"Six to eight weeks, actually," she said. "Now, if you wouldn't mind having a seat, Mr. Long Feng will be here shortly."
"Yeah. Of course."
As soon as he was out of Joo Dee's sight, Sokka blanched. He couldn't see any reason for an appointment to take six to eight weeks to book. That was insane. How was anything supposed to get done? But then again, maybe they didn't want any outside interference. He really didn't know anything about this place other than some allegations against the CEO and some of their business ventures - those ventures being the sale of various goods across the Four Nations. All in all, this place was pretty secretive. Information seemed to be held under lock and key.
There was one more thing about this place that sitting in the lobby told Sokka. It screamed money. The place was enormous and well furnished. It had this modern feel. Sleek black furniture. Gold metal finishings. Tasteful decorative accents. This was the kind of place that wanted to make other business owners feel inferior. Hell, Sokka felt inferior. He was sure his apartment was nothing in comparison to even one of their bathrooms.
Employees moved throughout the lobby with a certain ease and purpose that reminded him of a well-oiled machine. But there was this distinct lack of chatter amongst them. All of them wore tailored, black suits. All of them seemed to go about their jobs with little-to-no conversation. Sure, it was a well-oiled machine, but even the best of machines made noise. Their silence had to be intentional. This place felt off to him. It felt secretive.
Suddenly, Sokka's train of thought was interrupted by a man's approach. He stood tall and formal before him with long, dark hair and mustache and goatee. Sokka stood at his approach. The man bowed to him politely, which Sokka returned.
"Hello," he said. "You must be Sergeant Sokka. I'm Long Feng, the manager of the Ba Sing Se location of Phoenix Enterprises."
"That I am," he said. "I was hoping I could speak to you about what happened to your employee, Jin."
"Former employee, and quite regrettably so," Long Feng said. Sokka couldn't help but think he didn't seem the least bit sorrowful at the words. If anything, he seemed indifferent. "She put in her resignation just this morning. She said that she couldn't walk around the office feeling as if she had to watch over her shoulder."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Sokka said.
"As are we. I will miss her. She was a very good secretary," he said. "I do hope that she will recover from this."
Sokka had to force himself not to scoff at Long Feng's poor acting. He knew the older man wasn't the least bit concerned about Jin from the tone of his voice. It made him angry, but this wasn't the place for anger. It was the place for brains.
"She was your secretary?"
"Yes, she was. It was the reason she was at the party. All of our investors were familiar with her."
Sokka wrote that piece of information into a mental list. Jin was familiar with the company's investors. So she would have known the people at the party. It was likely that she, at the very least, knew the name of her attacker. The only problem lay in her lack of memory from the incident.
"I hope to get to the bottom of this incident. Maybe it will give you both some peace of mind."
"Why don't I show you around some of our offices, and we can talk."
Sokka agreed to be polite. But did he like this tour? Fuck no. He would much rather get out of this place that made his skin crawl, but he knew he was here to do his job. And if doing his job meant touring a skyscraper that probably had secrets that ran deeper than the ocean, then he'd do it. It was a lot of aimless walking and discussed the origins of various artworks that decorated the halls. Sokka didn't really give a damn about the art. It was all a distraction from the real goal here, but again, he only commented in order to save face. It had taken forty-five minutes for them to get to the shit that Sokka wanted to talk about. They'd made it to the floor that the office party had been held on that night - surviving only on small talk about the weather and city politics - before Long Feng finally managed to get the conversation on track.
"I know you're not here to chat about the latest gossip with King and his bear, Sergeant," the businessman said. Sokka sighed quietly in relief. "What exactly can I do for you?"
"I feel as though my officers might have missed something the day they came out here," he said. "I was hoping to get a complete list of those that were in the building the night of the party."
"I'm sure we have already provided one," Long Feng said.
"You have - of the people who attended the party. I want a list of everyone in the building. Broaden my search."
Sokka saw Long Feng's jaw tighten slightly before he allowed a brief smile to spread onto his wrinkled features. "Of course."
"Also, what can you tell me about the CEO, Ozai?"
"What do you mean?" the businessman asked. Sokka saw that his jaw clenched even harder than it had before.
"Was he at the party that night?" Sokka asked.
"He was in the building, yes, but he never actually made it to the party. He was working in his office the entire evening."
"He has an office here? I thought his primary location was back in the Fire Nation."
"Yes he does. He has one for each location of Phoenix Enterprises."
"And should I need to contact him for further information-"
"You won't need to contact him. I will be handling this case on behalf of the company."
"Yes, but-"
Suddenly, a light ringing noise broke through their conversation. Sokka and Long Feng simultaneously dug into their pockets, but when Sokka pulled out his phone, he found that the screen was black. Long Feng was answering a call as Sokka slipped the device back into his pocket. He stepped aside to give the man some semblance of privacy even though he was totally listening.
"Yes. Yes. Of course. I'll be down shortly. Thank you," he said. Then, there was a moment of quiet that Sokka didn't attempt to fill. Long Feng was getting called away?
"Unfortunately, I have other business I must get to, Sergeant," Long Feng said. Again, his words were meant to be apologetic, but the didn't sound the least bit remorseful. "Joo Dee will finish the tour of the building, and I will get you the list this afternoon by fax."
And if on cue, the all-too-smiley woman appeared beside Sokka. He jumped a little at her appearance, his heart rate spiking. Fuck, that was creepy. Had she been lingering around in the shadows this entire time? Who just did that?
He offered an uneasy smile to the woman. "That would be great."
Well, not really. He really didn't want to do this at all. He knew of so many other things that he would much rather be doing. But that was the beauty of being a police officer, now wasn't it? He had to do a lot of boring things. Listening to Joo Dee drone on and on about the evolution of Phoenix Enterprises, which was founded by Ozai's grandfather, Sozin, was a bigger drag than math class in high school. He felt as if they were going around in circles, too. Sure, they were on the floor where the incident happened, but it wasn't as if Sokka had actually seen where it was held. They hadn't made it there in the entire thirty minute period where he was receiving his history lesson.
And when he'd asked if she had any input on the allegations against Ozai and his company, she'd creepily said, "There are no crimes happening at Phoenix Enterprises," before promptly moving onto how they planned to open more of these corporate cesspools.
"Phoenix Enterprises has been branching out all across the four Nations. We hope to have an Omashu branch come next spring," Joo Dee said.
Sokka nodded politely despite his utter frustration with this woman. He looked around the space that they were currently in. Honestly, it looked the same as the last hallway, but Sokka couldn't be sure. He was no good with corporate places like this. It was way too easy to get turned around in them. As they walked, they passed a set of gilded double doors with frosted glass. They stood out from the rest of the hallway in a high and mighty sort of way.
Sokka stopped.
"Joo Dee, what's in here?" he asked as he jammed a thumb in the direction of the door.
She proffered up one of her creepy smiles in response. "That is CEO Ozai's office. He is not currently in, and we will not be touring his office today."
"Yeah... Of course."
Joo Dee kept talking and walking, and Sokka dutifully followed. But he was not listening. No. As soon as he had seen Ozai's office and heard the phrase 'he is not currently in', Sokka began to form a plan. He needed to get into Ozai's office. This was the man that the precinct had hordes and hordes of information on. Of course, it was all inconclusive information, but information nonetheless. Even if they were doing this to help Jin, they could always add a bit of bring down Ozai into the plan. He could only imagine the implicating things that the man was hiding in his-
"This is the space where we hold all of our corporate meetings and parties," Joo Dee said, suddenly cutting off Sokka's train of thought.
He looked at the space that they had walked into. It was a large, open room with lots of windows, comfortable looking sofas and chairs, and a variety of other furnishing. It seemed like a relaxing space from what he could tell.
"Has this space been used since the incident?" he asked.
Joo Dee shook her head. "We have not used it, no," she said. "At the request of the police, we have refrained from using this particular space."
Sokka nodded, but he was still perplexed. It all just seemed too easy. A business with a CEO with as many allegations against him as Ozai did was a business that wouldn't exactly fork up sensitive information that easily. They'd also try and cover their tracks the best that they could. He didn't exactly see offering the police tours of the vast majority of the building as strategic in Phoenix Enterprise's position. So why? So why were they being so forthcoming with the police? Maybe by providing them with what they wanted, they could really hide all of the terrible shit that was going on behind closed doors. It wouldn't be the first time they'd had that happen, and he was sure it wouldn't be the last, either.
There had to be more to all of this. Nothing was that easy.
Sokka's heart was racing. What he was doing was probably stupid. No. It wasn't probably stupid. It was actually stupid. He had no idea why he was doing this? He could potentially lose his job over this sort of stupidity, but then again, when was he ever considered the smart guy? He was the plan guy. He was the funny guy. But smart? Not so much.
He stood before Ozai's office door, a pin and lockpick in his hands. Don't ask him why he was doing this. He didn't know himself. He'd managed to separate himself from Joo Dee just three minutes earlier. He'd said he'd left his cell phone back in another room of the building, and he just had to retrieve it. He'd said he knew exactly where it was, so she didn't need to come along. He'd be right back. He'd run off before she could make sense of what he was saying or even follow him.
Was he actually coming back? Fuck no. Instead, he was picking the lock to a very powerful and scary man's office door.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. This was insane. He shouldn't have been doing this. He'd received some formal training on how to pick locks to decrease the number of doors that they had to kick down in the field, but fuck. He'd never expected to use that training for some so illegal. He could lose his job for this, but was he still going to do it in the name of bringing a man to justice?
Hell fucking yes.
Because fuck Ozai. He couldn't make this personal. He really couldn't, but he also couldn't help it. Zuko had some obvious childhood trauma related to his dad. Sokka had met the dude, and just knew there was something off about him. That weird condescending air that he had back in that hospital room... He knew there was something more to the story. Of course, making assumptions about whether his new romantic interest's father burned half of his face off was one way to end up losing said romantic interest. Even if Ozai had done it, Sokka wouldn't do anything unless Zuko admitted to it.
So, he planned to bring Ozai down for the crimes that they could prove - well, pending actual proof.
The lock of the door clicked beneath Sokka's fingertips. He turned the handle, and then he was in. He peeked his head in and was relieved to find that the office was, in fact, empty. He never even thought to check. He probably should have knocked before barging his way in. That probably would have been smart.
Fuck. He was frazzled.
Sokka took in a deep, calming breath. He couldn't let himself freak out. Nope. That was out of the question. He squared his shoulders before taking another look around the room. There weren't any obvious cameras from what he could tell, but he wasn't going to bank on that. He was sure there was at least one hidden somewhere in the office. He immediately made a beeline for the desk in the center of the room. If there was going to be anything at all in Ozai's office, he figured it would be on his desk.
Just by the state of Ozai's desk, Sokka could tell one thing about the guy. He was neat and meticulous. Everything was neat and orderly. There were no stray papers on his desk. Heck, there wasn't even a pen chilling there. By that alone, Sokka figured he'd notice if something was too out of place. Hell, he'd probably notice any fingerprints and smugdes, too because this place was spic and span.
He cracked his knuckles audibly before slipping on a pair of black leather gloves from his belt. Sokka didn't even bother looking at the computer. He was no technological genius. He knew how to work his smartphone, but there was no way he'd be able to dig through a computer and find all of the deep, dark, and dirty secrets that Ozai was hiding. At that point, the universe would be asking too much of him, and he didn't need any of that.
Instead, he began to dig through the drawers of the desk. From what he could tell, on top of being neat, this guy was also a minimalist. There was, like, nothing in the first two drawers he checked. Nothing aside from the normal office supplies. There were no guns hiding. No threatening letters. Not a single implicating thing. Hell, his desk hardly looked lived in. Sure, this wasn't Ozai's home office, but he figured he'd at least have a photograph or two resting on the surface. There was nothing. Well, aside from a very pretty box that sat in the center drawer.
"Jack-pot," Sokka sing-songed under his breath.
He carefully reached inside the drawer and lifted the box from its resting place. It was heavy and made of a dark-colored wood. The wood was inlaid with golden metalwork. It was beautiful. Sokka carefully undid the latch and opened the box. He was honestly a little disappointed by what he saw. It was just a wax seal.
Was this guy really that bougie to where he needed a fucking gold inlaid box for a fucking wax seal? Sokka picked up the seal and gave it a quick once over. It was pretty standard. Just a wooden handle with a metal head. Stamped into the metal was a-
Sokka froze, his bright blue eyes glued to the symbol on the bottom of the seal. He'd seen it before although that version had been crude and hand drawn. It was the same symbol that Jin saw. But that alone made Sokka's heart sink. If this symbol was used on a wax seal, then that meant it would be pretty common to see through correspondences from Ozai. He was the CEO. He'd send mail to Long Feng as he was the branch manager. Jin had been his secretary. There was a pretty strong possibility that Jin had seen the symbol there. She'd been drunk, and he knew after years of experience with fucking cactus juice that drunken hallucinations happened. He didn't want to believe it of Jin, but he also couldn't knock it as a possibility.
Sokka froze again, but this time it was because of something far worse than the wax seal in his hands. The door handle across the room jiggled as someone turned a key in the lock. Sokka cursed silently and quickly placed the wax seal back in the desk where he'd found it. He then threw himself under the desk. He thanked the spirits that this was one of those desks that reached all the way to the floor because had it not been, he would have been utterly fucked. He was probably already fucked.
The door opened and shut. Sokka heard muffled footsteps on the carpet. They seemed to stop half-way through the room before whatever conversation they were having picked up again.
"Joo Dee said that the officer disappeared somewhere," the first person said. It was Long Feng. He sounded frustrated.
A heavy sigh sounded. "Why do I employ you people? You constantly disappoint me."
Sokka recognized that voice. It made his blood run cold and his palms go clammy. That was the voice from the hospital that told him Zuko had burned himself. He was the one who had claimed it was all just an accident. It was Ozai.
"I apologize, Sir, but-"
"You were supposed to pay that girl off when she originally brought it to your attention."
Now that was interesting. Jin had never told him that she'd told her boss what happened. She'd never mentioned telling her bosses. She'd never mentioned any hush money. Hush money wasn't exactly illegal, but covering up a crime was an entirely different story. What the actual fuck was going on in this company?
"Sir, I promise you I did, but she denied the money."
"Then offer a larger sum," he said. "And if that doesn't work, you know to threaten. Hell, make them disappear. Never let them go to the police."
There was a bit of silence before Long Feng responded. "Yes, Sir," he said. "Would you like me to watch the cameras to find the officer?"
"No," Ozai said with an air of finality. "Considering how much you've fucked up already, I'll take care of it."
Both sets of footsteps walked toward the door. He heard it open and shut. He stayed there for a solid minute or two, holding his breath, before he allowed himself to creep out from his hiding spot. The room was empty. Ozai was gone.
Gone, and heading for the security room. Sokka needed to get out. Now.
He stood and made a beeline for the door. He opened it slowly and poked his head out. There was no one. The universe was really looking out for him. He immediately made his way to the elevator. Even though he knew it wouldn't do anything, he jammed his finger repeatedly on the down button. It felt like forever before the doors opened, but they did. He got inside, and repeated the process on the button for the ground floor. The elevator slowly made its descent. Why the fuck did they have to be on the fourtheeth floor? If they were on the ground, this would have been so much easier.
As he waited with the sound of quiet dinging and elevator music as his only company, he thought of everything he'd heard. He didn't even know where to begin. The crimes were just adding up. Concealing a crime. Possible criminal threats. And whatever Ozai meant 'make them disappear'. That phrase only had a few meanings, and not a single one was any good. There was more to this story than Jin had told him, and he needed to know more.
Throughout his entire descent, Sokka was joined by several people on their way to the main lobby. He hoped that this human shield that he had would help with slipping out of here. The last thing he needed was to be confronted by security or Long Feng or worse, Ozai.
And he thought he was going to make it, too. He thought he was in the clear, but the universe seriously loved to prove him wrong. Thank you universe. Just as he was nearing the main door of Phoenix Enterprises, a heavy hand fell onto Sokka's shoulders. He felt himself physically deflate as he turned to face the one and the only Ozai. But he only allowed the disappointment to show for a millisecond before he plastered that big, cheesy grin of his onto his face.
"Ah! You must be Ozai! Your manager, Long Feng, said I wouldn't be able to meet you," Sokka supplied as he stuck out his arm in preparation for a customary Water Tribe embrace.
Ozai's golden eyes flickered down to his arm and back up to his face before his lips curled into a sneer.
"Joo Dee was supposed to be giving you a tour, Sergeant," Ozai said formally.
"Oh, ah, yeah. We got separated. I'd left my phone somewhere, and I went to grab it. This place is massive though - props to you. I got lost. Couldn't find my way back, so I wandered a bit."
Fuck. This was bad. Sokka could already feel sweat beading up on my spine. His palms were once again clammy, and he was rambling. Fuck, he was rambling.
"Yes, straight into my locked office," Ozai said. "I should have you fired."
Sokka swallowed. Yep. The universe hated him. Losing his job to put this scumbag in jail would be worth it, but then again, his job was nice. It paid the bills, and he loved that. Regardless, he shouldn't have done it. Breaking and entering was illegal. The universe might have been kinder to him if the thought had never come to fruition. This wasn't the time for regrets, though. He had to get out of this with his head above water. He had to stand his ground. He'd never get anywhere with this guy if he let him walk all over him. So, he squared his shoulders and put on the fiercest look he could muster.
"From what I heard, you've got some pretty nasty things to hide," Sokka challenged.
Ozai's eyes narrowed for a fraction of a second before they widened knowingly. "Get out. If the police are going to overstep their boundaries, then we won't willingly work with them. I won't have crooked police officers in my business," he seethed, his teeth barred and his lips curled back into a sneer. "If you need anything else, come back with a warrant."
Sokka gave Ozai a cheeky grin and a little salute. "Can do, boss," he said before he sauntered out of the building.
It wasn't until he was down the block with Phoenix Enterprises out of sight that Sokka was able to release the breath he'd been holding.
"I can't believe you were so reckless, Sokka!" Piandao admonished for the umpteenth time. Sokka had honestly lost count after the seventh time. "You're lucky he doesn't want to press charges! You could have lost your job!"
Sokka groaned from where he was seated across from Piandao's desk. The captain had ushered him into his office with a mixed look of disappointment and anger as soon as he set foot into the station. Sokka didn't know which part of the look was worse. The disappointment or the anger. He was leaning toward the disappointment.
"I know it was wrong, but how else was I supposed to get any information? That place is weird. It feels plastic."
"It doesn't matter how it feels, Sokka. What you did was wrong," Piandao said firmly. He rubbed at the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger for a moment before fixing Sokka with a softer look. "Sokka, I know you're a good Sergeant. You have the best intentions, too. But we have to go about this the right way. We don't need any of the evidence you find to become inadmissible in court. We can't afford that."
Sokka looked up at Piandao miserably. "I know. I'm sorry, Sir."
Piandao's hand fell onto his shoulder. "It's alright, son," he said before a mischievous smile graced his lips. "Now. Tell me exactly what you found out."
Sokka blinked rapidly. What in the actual fuck. Piandao had just gone from stern boss to high school gossip girl in all of three seconds flat. As much as Piandao was a boss, he was still a detective at heart.
He told Piandao exactly what he'd heard. About the hush money, hiding of crimes, criminal threats. The whole thing. But what he focused most on was that wax seal.
"That's what worries me the most," Sokka said. "What if she had seen that symbol before from the mail? What if he brain did that crazy hallucination thing that mine does when I drink cactus juice."
Piandao furrowed his brows. "Sokka, you're the only person I know who hallucinates when they drink cactus juice," he said before shaking his head. "I think you're missing the biggest point of them all, son."
"What's that?"
"That symbol was Ozai's personal seal. If he has a ring to match it, that makes him our number one person of interest," Piandao said.
Sokka blinked once, twice, three times. As smart as Sokka was, that thought had never crossed his mind. Not once. Of course that seal could help them place Ozai as their primary suspect. He's been thinking about the situation in the wrong way. He'd been too broad when an obvious answer was right in front of him.
He didn't think it was possible for him to hate the man any more than he already did. He already suspected him of maiming his son, but now he was a rapist, too? What the actual fuck? Ozai was a sick, twisted man. It made Sokka's stomach feel queasy and his heart feel heavy.
"That's still not enough information to arrest him off of," Sokka said glumly.
"No, but it's a start, don't you think?" Piandao asked. "Don't rush, Sokka. Ozai is slippery. We need to be careful. We need to wait. He won't make it easy on us, especially now that he knows we're onto him."
"Yeah, but we'll get him," Sokka said. "For Jin."
But what he really wanted to say was 'for Zuko.'
A/N/: Hey everyone. I know that Sokka did some pretty shady stuff as far as cops go. Breaking and entering is BAD. But. I felt as though it was true to his character considering what he did when he was in the library. He'll do what he can do get justice for the people he cares about. Hope you liked it though, and you don't hate me too much for it.