First of all; thank you everyone for all the comments, and reviews. What readers think of a story means a great deal to writers like me. Now as always; I own nothing, but the plot and OC's. Everything else belongs to someone else, and with that out of the way; enjoy the story.
PS: This chapter has been upgraded as of 2022.
4: Exposure
Mako could only stare in shock at the abomination before him.
There nestled in the center of the secret underground chamber was something he'd hoped to never see again outside his nightmares; a bastard union of human technology, and the unnatural vines that still ensnared the area surrounding the newest spirit portal.
An active spirit vine power core.
Just like the one that powered Kuvira's colossus over a year ago; the mass of interwoven vines glowed with an eerie purple light as massive amounts of energy circulated through them. Being augmented and multiplied a hundred-fold, before coursing out into the interconnected machinery.
Sheer incomprehension rooted the detective firmly in place until a sharp cry of pain from Asami ripped him back to reality.
Turning away from the spirit core his amber gaze swiftly returned to the struggling CEO. A man wearing a black and red coat held her by the wrist of her taser gauntlet with one hand, while his other hand had her by the throat. Asami clawed desperately at his suffocating grip on her neck, but the man merely slammed her head into the control consul next to them; cracking the screen and knocking the heiress unconscious.
"Detective Mako Phenix I presume?" The man asked casually as he allowed Asami to drop unceremoniously to the floor as he slicked back his hair. "So nice of you to join us, and right on schedule too; I appreciate that. Punctuality makes doing my job so much easier." He continued as he began pulling a series of switches on the console, causing the spirit vines to glow brighter, and an electrical hum to fill the air before turning around to face him with a malicious smirk on his lips.
"Who are you and what job are you here for?" Mako demanded igniting twin flames in his hands as he assessed the mysterious intruder before him.
Sharp eyes giving the man a swift once over, he quickly surmised he was of fire nation descent with the trade mark black hair and light complexion, as well as surprisingly amber eyes. A rarity not unlike the fabled golden gaze possessed by the royal family as compared to the more common hazel and copper colors the majority of the fire nation population was known to have.
The man also stood a few inches taller than Mako with a lean yet muscled physique, and appeared to be around the same age as Korra's father Chief Tonraq, meaning he was likely still in his physical prime albeit nearing its twilight. Between that and the fact that he was running with the Triple Threats meant he was more than likely a bender as well.
What's more Mako couldn't help but feel a sense of familiarity from the man even though he'd never seen him before. Not even from the countless wanted posters, and case files he'd been through as a police officer. Familiar or not there was no doubt in his mind the man was dangerous, especially with direct access to a spirit core.
"Careful detective; I just set this thing to maximum capacity. You of all people should know how dangerous these vines can be when exposed to fire, or lightning." The man said with an amused chuckle as though he were warning a child away from an electric outlet.
Mako glared at him, but extinguished his flames.
The man smirked. "Smart boy. Now regarding your questions; I go by Shen, and the job just so happens to be you Mako. I'm here to help you become so much more than the disappointing waste of potential that you are. Honestly I expected so much more from you."
"What the Hell are you talking about!?" Mako demanded angrily.
"All in good time kid, but for now you've got bigger problems. Like what you're going to do about this particularly unstable spirit core; which is inches away from critical capacity. This baby's got more than enough juice to obliterate each and every innocent life within a mile radius of here, and with the kind of population density Republic City has that's quite the body count, even for an omnicidal psychopath like myself." Shen explained with a wicked grin.
"You're out of your mind." Mako growled as the severity of the situation became all too clear.
Shen merely laughed at the accusation. "Believe me kid, you have absolutely no idea."
Feeling the heat building in his palms; Mako quickly swallowed down his rage, and focused. "A Mile wide blast radius huh? Do you really expect me to believe that you are psychotic enough to kill hundreds of innocent people, and yourself for my ambiguous benefit?" He asked hoping to stall Shen long enough for Korra to arrive. At this point her ability to energy bend was the only chance of disarming the spirit core safely.
Shen laughed again the maniacal sound grating viciously on Mako's nerves. "It's not just for your benefit kid, but for greater good of the entire miserable world. In the end though it doesn't really matter what you believe kid, and as for whether or not I'm prepared to kill myself and rack up a body that could give Avatar Aang a run for his money? That doesn't matter either, because you are going to save me, and everyone else in the blast zone. Aren't you hero?"
Mako scowled. "Now I know you are insane. If you set the core off there is nothing, I can do to stop it. Only the Avatar could even hope to."
Grabbing hold of the guard railing between them Shen suddenly ripped a two-foot length of metal free before tossing it to Mako. "For everyone else's sake I hope you are wrong kid." Then with no discernable charge time, and to Mako's horror Shen unleashed a lightning bolt directly into the spirit core.
"Is everyone all right?" Korra called out as she the took down the final Triad thug, freezing him to the floor for good measure.
Looking around she received various nods, and calls of confirmation as the chief of security approached her, leaving the team to finish detaining the intruders.
"Thank you, Avatar Korra. We should be able to handle things from here." The chief assured with an appreciative nod.
"Any time Han." Korra said returning the nod before scanning the eviscerated lobby for any sign of Asami, or Mako.
Finding nothing, and trusting the guards to handle things until the police arrived; she started towards the emergency stairwell, growing more worried by the second.
Before she could get to far though a violent tremor suddenly shook the building, knocking several guards to the floor as all the lights flared impossibly bright before exploding in a shower of glass eliciting a scream from Joo Dee somewhere in one of the adjoining hallways.
"What the hell is going on?" Korra exclaimed.
"Why don't you ask your pretty little girlfriend?" Suggested a man as he exited the stairwell into the lobby.
Evaluating the man Korra quickly surmised that he was most likely leader of the Triad raiding party, and probably a fire bender to boot. "What the hell did you do?" She demanded, as she assumed a bending stance, ready for a fight.
Shen just smirked. "I suppose you could beat the answer out of me, or you can take the secret passage hidden behind the stairwell, follow the center hallway, and save your friends from certain death. I suggest you choose quickly Avatar; I doubt your pet fire bender can hold out for very much longer." He added before lashing out with a massive fire blast, forcing Korra to evade, and clearing a path to the front door.
Grinning wickedly Shen bolted for the exit, the guards trying in vain to stop him as he easily evaded them, barking out a final laugh as he disappeared into the growing crowd of onlookers out front.
Korra desperately wanted to chase the bastard down, but another tremor shook the building prompting her to bolt to the stairwell, and rush down the newly revealing passageway.
"Asami what have you done?"
"Good luck hero." Shen laughed as he bolted for the exit, while Mako rushed to the main control console, hoping to find some sort of manual shut down in case of emergencies.
His hopes were swiftly dashed however upon finding the controls ruined. Evidently Shen hadn't wasted any time in sabotaging the console, causing more than enough damage before Asami had arrived, and confronted him.
Rushing to the CEO's side, he found that while she would be alright, but she was out cold and without her help there was no smart way to stop the spirit core.
As the core's energy began to build faster than it could be syphoned off, an electrical hum filled the air, growing louder and louder as the ground began to shake, arcs of purple energy randomly erupting from the core as the lights flared impossibly bright before exploding in a shower of glass. Plunged into darkness, the only source of light being the core's eerie purple glow.
The situation was deteriorating rapidly, and if he didn't do something quickly the core would go critical, killing thousands of innocent people.
Searching desperately for a solution the weight of the metal bar in his hand gave Mako an idea. If he couldn't stop the core; maybe he could drain it somehow, shrinking the blast radius at least, and with any luck buying enough time for Korra to arrive.
It was a bad idea. A really bad idea. A stupid idea that was tantamount to suicide, but in the end Mako couldn't help but smile sadly. This would hardly be the first time he'd lain down his life for the people of Republic City, but there was a pretty good chance it would be his last.
With a plan decided, and his mind set to see it through; Mako tightened his grip on the metal bar as he vaulted over the disabled console, and began to make his way towards the erupting spirit core, moving carefully as the volatile arcs of energy grew more numerous with the core's power continuing to build.
"Here we go again." Mako groaned as he came to stand before the core, and began to concentrate on separating the ambient energies around him.
Methodically moving his right hand through the air with pointer and middle finger extended, arcs of electricity began to trail his movements as he gave the metal rod a few twirls to gather its own charge before sliding it into a reverse grip. Hopefully by using his own lightning as a sort of adapter he could theoretically redirect some of the power. Hopefully being the key word, as more than likely it would do to him what the core did to all the lights a few moments ago.
Deciding to focus on the task at hand; Mako gathered as much of his own energy as could until the ground began to shake more violently, the core flared even brighter, and the energy arcs became near constant.
Realizing it was now, or never he raised the rod high, and stabbed it into the mass of vines.
Upon making contact the spirit energy seemed to consume the lightning. Latching on to the tail end, and following the current up through the rod, and into his arm. Using his chi to guide the monstrous combination of lightning and spirit energy it swiftly traveled up his arm, down through his stomach, commonly known as the 'sea of chi' by firebender teachers, and up into his other arm. Burning relentlessly all the while.
Fighting through the agony Mako raised his arm straight up, and prayed to whatever spirit might be listening that nobody was standing in the cross fire as a massive bolt of energy erupted continuously from his pointed fingers through two stories worth of earth and stone, through the empty street in front of the building, and into the sky.
To say that the pain was excruciating would have been a serious understatement. As more energy flowed through the metal rod it began to glow red as it rapidly approached its melting point. A Process he could easily empathize with, as the spirit energy tore its way through his body, slowly burning him from the inside out.
With spirit energy being a hundred times more powerful than lightning; Mako knew his body couldn't take the strain for much longer, but he held tight regardless. If he could hold out just long enough, then maybe he would be the only one to die today.
"Mako!" someone screamed from behind him. He couldn't quite make out who it was over his own agonized scream.
As the sound of major electrical discharge, and agonized screaming filled the air; Asami slowly came to, only to find she had awoken to a nightmare. Pulling herself shakily to her feet, and finding the control console ruined; she could only stare in abject horror as her spirit core drew steadily closer to an all-out meltdown while Mako foolishly tried to discharge the building energy with his lightning bending.
Desperately searching for a way to shut down the core; the heiress swiftly realized, much to her shame that there was nothing she could do aside from watching helplessly as her dear friend, and former flame was slowly torn apart by the energy flowing through him.
"Mako!"
Tearing her gaze from Mako; Asami found herself filled with equal parts hope, and dread as Korra charged into the chamber. Upon seeing Mako and the spirit core she instinctively entered the Avatar state, and rushed forward to throw her arms around the lightning bender; placing her right hand over his heart, and her left hand over the hand holding the now glowing metal rod.
For a moment nothing happened, but then the arcs of energy erupting randomly from the core began to lessen until they ceased altogether, and the ground stopped shaking as Korra began to channel the energy out through Mako, evidenced by the violet bolt of lightning flaring from his fingertips doubling in size.
As more and more energy began to flow through them Korra's entire body began to glow with blue and white energy. Being a member of team Avatar, and Korra's girlfriend this was hardly something new to Asami, but then much to her surprise Mako began to glow as well, only his was red and orange.
Slowly from the points of contact between them their energy colors began to turn purple. As the purple light soon enveloped both them both the core seemed to run out of power as the stream of energy stopped flowing from Mako's fingertips, the core's glow faded away, and the vines turned to ashes. The disaster had been averted yet both Mako and Korra were still glowing much to the CEO's confusion.
Slowly Asami began to approach the two when suddenly an arc of obsidian energy began to circle the pair before arcing out towards her. The heiress cried out in pain as the energy struck the palm of her taser glove, and surged throughout her entire body.
Then with a final flash of purple light all glows, and any trace of spirit energy disappeared. Leaving all three of them, Mako, Korra, and Asami to crumble to the floor unconscious as the chamber was plunged into darkness.
In case anyone is confused about the part where Mako and Korra start glowing; its comparable to when Aang took away Ozai's bending in the last airbender.
If you liked what you read feel free to comment, review, or constructively criticize. Its all appreciated. Until next time.