Sorry for the delay. I have had a lot of things to attend to these days. I hope to regain my usual pace very soon. Please bear with me until then!

This chapter contains very little action whatsoever. But it is always calm just before the storm, right? ;)

Please do enjoy!

-:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:-

Chapter 7: Persuasion

Much to her pleasure, Asami had been allowed to go to the toilet since the cells contained no such facility. Her hands were released temporarily once she had been led to the toilet. Being able to use her hands again and move around was amazing. The thought that she would be bound again once finished made her procrastinate as much as she could without it being too obvious.

When she returned outside to meet the Equalist who had guarded the door and was about to be tied up again, a vaguely familiar voice interrupted the process.

"Please bring the girl to my office instead." By the sound of Amon's voice, Asami was surprised into brief immobility, her mind going blank. What was Amon doing here? And where was Korra? Questions started to form in her head, but she kept her mouth shut.

Mako and Bolin watched with wide eyes as she passed the hallway and was led upstairs.

Asami watched Amon's back silently as they went through the web of narrow hallways. They passed many doors on their way, but all of them were closed. She had always wondered what those Equalist bases were hiding from the rest of the people, especially the Avatar and her allies. Her wonder was still far from satisfied as they stopped by a door completely alike the others; a bare wooden door with a silver-coloured handle. Amon opened the door and entered a small and dimly lit room, Asami pushed right after him. The Equalist closed the door behind her.

"Please, do take a seat," Amon offered and gestured to one of the chairs surrounding the table in the middle of the room. Asami had no idea of how to react to all of this, so she sat down and watched as Amon took seat opposite of her. His white porcelain mask greeted her with a painted smile, which made Asami feeling uncomfortable.

"I hope you have not been handled too roughly," Amon continued, his voice smooth and friendly in a way she had never witnessed before. It was crystal clear to her that he was up to something that she might not like the idea of. She chose to remain silent until he told her what he really wanted to tell her. She doubted that he had brought her in to just chatter.

By her silence, Amon figured that he would be better off just cutting right to the chase. Asami was no girl to be fooled by hollow sweet-talk; a trait she had inherited from her father, and a trait which he would take advantage of in his own way.

"Alright, I might as well get to the point already. I have a proposition for you, Asami," Amon said as he leaned in over the table, pressing his fingers together. "I want you to join the Equalists." Asami's jade green eyes widened in disbelief. It was understandable back then when her father had tried to persuade her to join him, but now Amon himself was proposing the very same thing.

"I am flattered by your offer, Amon. But I will never join your army. Not with that goal of yours," Asami said, her voice calm an collected. She needed to control her emotions in front of this man. He proposed a danger to her and everyone she held dear.

"You do not strive for equality between benders and non-benders? You have no desire in punishing those who hurt innocent people – such like your mother?" The key word. Her mother. Amon felt joy as he saw Asami's expression turn aloof, her eyes expressing anger from the memories flashing before her inner mind.

"Benders have torn your family apart, Asami. You mother was killed, and your father loathes the very kind of people who ripped away his loved ones. I understand how he feels. My family, too, was slaughtered in cold blood by benders," Amon continued. "I want no compassion, however. I want revenge over those people by taking away their ability to ever hurt anyone again." Asami nodded unconsciously for a moment. Then, suddenly, her expression became present as her eyes narrowed.

I thought I made it clear to my father that I have no desire in joining the Equalists," the girl hissed, remembering the fight she had had with her father weeks ago.

"Did it ever occur to you how much it has pained your father to see his only remaining girl being taken away from him and joining those whom he hates with his whole heart?" Amon's words were soft and contained a dominating undertone of compassion for Asami's father. "I have spoken to him many times by now. He has often told me how much he misses his only daughter."

Of course her father missed her, and she had to admit that she missed him too. She was almost convinced by Amon's speech. Almost.

Abruptly Asami stood up, her eyes glinting with anger.

"How dare you use my father as a tool in your persuasion!? If my father missed me, he would have contacted me. You are using him as a reason for me to join you, even though it is truly your wish to attain my alliance," Asami spoke with harsh words, watching as Amon's masked eyes narrowed. He had failed, and he knew.

"Very well," the man answered coolly and stood up as well. "I will have someone escort you back to your cell. You will receive a punishment along with your friends."

As if he had been listening at the door, the Equalist from before entered and grabbed her by the upper arm. Just as she was about to get dragged away, Asami remembered something important.

"But I am willing to do a trade," she spoke hastily, surprising both Amon and the guard. The guard released her, and the girl continued: "I will join you if you release my friends unharmed. All three of them." It was very unlikely, but she had no idea how much value she had to Amon and his army. Maybe he found the trade reasonable. But as Amon snorted in amusement, Asami knew she had been wrong.

"Trade denied," Amon said sternly, and Asami was dragged away.

-:- -:- -:- -:- -:-

It was reluctantly that Tenzin followed Lin and fled the scene, four members of the newly discovered bender gang chasing them closely. Tenzin had to dodge a wave of fireballs as they rounded the corner and darted toward the exit. Right before leaving the building, Tenzin turned around and sent a strong air blast against the criminals trailing them, sending all of them back against the wall. He was soon relieved to find that they were no longer following them.

Lin sighed loudly, sending Tenzin a dark look.

"I told you not to turn left in the hallway," she said and rubbed her temples with a frown. Those damned bending criminals had almost managed to trap her on her way out because of Tenzin's mistake. For an elegant Air bender, he surely was terrible at breaking into buildings and sneaking around without getting discovered. Because of his excellent bending skills, he never really had to hide from his enemies; he could face them directly and still get out unharmed. But in a quest like this one, discretion was required. She hoped that neither of them were arrested for trespassing; with Tarrlok as the most prominent and powerful councilman, hoping to be spared would be plain stupidity. Having two of his rivals in jail would only strengthen his own status in the eyes of the citizens and the entire Republic City.

"I am quite certain that I never did turn left in the hallway," Tenzin defended as Lin crossed out a location on the map. She ignored his words with another sigh. Clearly, the unpleasant event mere moments ago had put her nerves on an end. The entire way to the next location on the list was travelled in silence.

The next location – and also the last one for the night – was an abandoned warehouse. Lin remembered the place clearly. She had been the one to notice it and label it suspicious. She remembered having seen a lot of Equalist activity nearby, which had led her to the warehouse. She had checked whose name it was registered under, and she had wondered why the owner was not even a citizen of Republic City. The name could have been randomly chosen by an Equalist disguising himself as another man. More importantly, the warehouse was said to have been for sale for more than two months without any interested buyers. In the center of the capital, it was most unlikely that any building would stand abandoned for this long.

When they entered and the lights turned on, Lin's suspicions grew. The warehouse was not even completely empty.

She and Tenzin departed temporarily to search through the enormous building. They both darted straight toward the few small piles of boxes and peeked inside, both with a frown of disappointment on their faces.

Looking around and seeing nothing but torn curtains and concrete walls, Lin caught Tenzin's attention with a sour nod.

"There is nothing here either," she spoke. Tenzin sighed. Together, they left the warehouse in silence. Neither of them noticed the tip of the door handle sticking out from behind one of the curtains on their way out.

"We will visit the remaining three locations tomorrow. I am sure they must be in one of them," Lin reassured her old friend once they were about to depart, a hand resting on his drooping shoulder. Tenzin tried to muster a smile, but it died before it had even reached his lips. He had a feeling that they had missed something on their way, and that this was their only clue to find Korra's friends.

"Goodnight," Tenzin said in a whisper. Then he created a small whirlwind to carry him home.

"Goodnight," answered Lin just before the man was too far away to hear her. With a sigh, she started to walk toward her apartment. Another night alone.

-:- -:- -:- -:- -:-

The day had been very long and very boring. It was not that Korra enjoyed being in trouble or being disturbed, but she did not enjoy doing nothing for hours upon hours either.

For the very first time since her arrival, she had been served food three times a day. The food was nothing special in taste or quality, and had she been home eating it she would have been a bit disappointed. But here, every single spoonful of plain, cold rice was a treat. She could easily feel how good the food had done to her system. Her fever was gone entirely now, and her head felt clear.

How ironic it was, she had never felt this good physically since the beginning of her imprisonment. Her state of mind, however, was in an entirely other condition. Thoughts that surprised her, shocked her, or even directly disgusted her, had been running through her mind all day. It was exhausting to hate one self this much, she had concluded.

It bothered her how much she had been thinking about the things Amon had done to her, and yes, she was nothing less than furious at him. The damned bastard had raped her! When she managed to escape someday, however, this was not something she would tell anyone. It had been so wrong on so many levels. And it had felt so good. The latter was what had bothered her the most, and it disgusted her that a part of her had enjoyed it. And that part was not entirely physical.

It was amazing, she decided, how things so simple could fuck her life up this much. The moment she had chosen to challenge Amon to a duel in the radio news, she had had no idea of what could or would happen. And this was probably what she had least expected to happen. A wry smile tugged at her lips. Luck never was on her side when she needed it, was it?

It was now hours since she had eaten supper. Sitting with her back to the wall, the back of her head leaned back against the cold and hard surface, Korra's thoughts once again drifted to her friends. The mere thought of their imprisonment made her blood boil with anger. They were most likely treated just as badly as she was, except there had been no Amon to hurt them.

Then it hit her. A frown creased her brow. Amon was probably away to work on the arrangements for the weekend's ceremonial bender purification. And Mako and Bolin were bound to be among those victims who were about to be robbed of their bending. Korra tightened her fists unconsciously. How she wished she was there with them. Together they were stronger. Perhaps they could have escaped, had they merely been in the same cell.

A sadness overcame her, and she closed her eyes. She really hoped they had been – or were soon to be – rescued. Of course, Tenzin had already noticed that Mako, Bolin, and Asami had disappeared too. Hopefully he was searching for them first. Although her friends were strong in mind, none of them could handle to be purified. She could take care of herself, for now. As long Amon kept his word that he would save her for last, she did not have to worry about her well-being – from now on, at least. She could withstand his mind games. After all, everything would be back to normal when she escaped, right?

No. She should stop lying to herself. Of course it would never be the same as before. If she got out alive and with her bending intact, she would still go back to hating Amon and the Equalists, but she would not be able to forget or deny their moments of intimacy. The memories would haunt her for the rest of her life. It was an irremovable scar on her soul.

The very thought of her naked body pressed against Amon's made her shudder in disgust. The feeling of dirtiness was still lingering to her body even after two poor attempts on washing herself in the bucket of water. She could still catch the faint odour of him if she concentrated, and now she could not seem to ignore it; the feeling of something unfamiliar, something wrong. Unnatural.

With a frown she stood up and almost ripped her clothes off, ignoring the cold creeping into her bones, her bare feet against the concrete floor. Nothing mattered now except ridding herself of his smell permanently. She could not stand it anymore.

Cupping her hands and filling them, she splashed the cold water onto her bare skin. Her soaked hands glided over her breasts, her belly, her throat, her inner thighs, her movements rushed and feverish. No matter how much she told herself that he was gone, she could not help but remember the feeling of his touch, his hand groping the very places she was now trying to wash. Her hands felt like his, too rough, too quick.

He is gone, she told herself again. These are my hands.

She bit her bottom lip and kept washing her cooling skin, her hands repeating the very route which Amon's hands had travelled. More water. Quicker. Harder.

He is not here!

It made no difference. No reasoning could make her forget. As her feelings reached climax, she let her forehead rest against the wall, the tears rolling down her cheeks. Warm and quick. Like his movements.

The smell of him was still present. Perhaps it was the room itself that smelled of him.

Why will it not go away?

Without realizing, Korra bit her lip so hard it started to bleed. It did not matter. Nothing mattered anymore, did it? She tried to swallow her sobs. It was futile. She was not strong enough. The tears just kept coming, falling.

Suddenly feeling exhausted, she climbed on to the bed, tugging the blankets around her still naked and damp body. The back of her head leaning back against the wall. She was freezing. It did not matter. Nothing did.

In this very position, Korra fell asleep. A vague slumber filled with nightmares of pain and those rough, warm hands groping her from everywhere, strangling her.

The Lieutenant was on his way to check up on their captive this late evening in order to report back to Amon once he got back. Looking in through the opening in the door, he saw the girl in her miserable state, and he could not ignore the feeling that there was something wrong in the way that she was crying and whimpering in her sleep.

-:- -:- -:- -:- -:-

With a tired sigh, Asami shifted her position once again, her back now turned to the door of her cell. She closed her eyes again and tried to breathe slowly and deeply. It did not work. Although she was exhausted from discomfort and starvation, she could not let her mind go blank and fall asleep. Thoughts were running through her mind; thoughts she could not seem to ignore.

Amon. The man who had ruined her life, ripped her family apart, and hurt her friends. The man who had just offered her salvation in the exchange of her loyalty to her friends. He had been playing dirtily, using her beloved father as a tool in his quest of persuading her to join the Equalists. Yes, she missed her father, and yes, she wanted revenge for the death of her mother. But it was not something that should be used to hurt her friends furthermore. Her friends were her family now. She would never do anything to hurt them, or betray their loyalty. It would break their hearts if she were to join Amon.

But she had to admit to herself that if she had never met Mako and his friends, she would most likely already have been part of the Equalists by now. Everything except from her friends pointed toward that this was the way she finally got revenge for her mother. It was hard to watch the people whom she loved being divided in this war, her friends on one side and her father on the other. It had felt right to take side by her friends. But she could not help but feel...

No, she thought with a frown. Do not even go there. I made the right choice.

She sighed and turned to lie on her back. She wished that Amon had never shown up in the first place. Before he had shown up and started the Anti-Bender Campaign and founded the Equalists, everything had been perfect. She and her father had been leading a nice life with focus on the Future Industries. She had really enjoyed working together with her father, and she had been looking forward to one day taking over the company. But it was all long gone now, slipped through her fingers as if it had been pure sand, or a dream. All because of Amon and his success in persuading her father to join him and provide the Equalists weapons.

Or maybe, she realized, it was her own fault, for befriending Mako in the first place. She honestly had not cared about benders before the day she accidentally drove into him on the street.

Stop it, Asami! she told herself. Meeting Mako, Bolin, and Korra was the best thing that has ever happened to you!

Throwing a glance at Mako's sleeping form, Asami smiled. She really loved them. They were her family now, no matter how many alien thoughts Amon managed to put into her head. She would never doubt herself or her choice. And she would certainly never join Amon and the Equalists, no matter what punishment such compliance would spare her.

She remembered the boys' glances from earlier, when she had been escorted back to her cell and tied up again. They had witnessed as she had been led to Amon's private office, neither of them knowing for what purpose. Apparently, suspicions had erupted in them while she had been gone; she had seen the confusion in Bolin's eyes and the slight frown on Mako's face. A frown she knew had hidden unpleasant thoughts. Not that it had been unfair of him to feel that something was wrong, because something was wrong. She had been offered freedom all while they had been sitting in their cells, both of them knowing that their lives as benders were about to end.

A disgusting feeling of guilt and disloyalty had been nagging at the back of her mind ever since the unexpected meeting. Although she had refused Amon's offer bluntly, she could not help but feel bad about the fact that she had actually been offered a choice; an offer which neither of her friends would ever get because of their innate abilities. It was not her fault, nor was it theirs. They were benders, she was not. It was neither her fault nor her choice that she was not born a bender like them, she knew. But despite all this she could not rid herself of the uncomfortable stream of thoughts nor the feeling that she had betrayed her friends just for receiving such an offer.

Perhaps some of the guilt was caused by the fact that she had not told them the entire truth about the meeting. Of course, they had asked her about Amon's intentions with it. She had told them that Amon had wanted to discuss her father's role among the Equalists with the sole purpose of making her angry and feel betrayed by her father. She had been angry, yes. But the purpose with the meeting had been to recruit her. She could not tell them this. She would lose their faith, she was sure of it. How could they possibly believe her if she told them she had refused an offer of freedom? And how would they react if they knew she had offered Amon her compliance in exchange for their freedom?

She shifted again to lie on her side, face turned to the front of her cell. A guard passed their cells in order to make sure the captives were causing no troubles this late night. It was obvious that Asami was the only one still awake. She kept her expression straight and turned her gaze away from his.

The guard gave a thoughtful grunt and returned to his seat just outside the room.

Asami listened as the man fell asleep again.

How long would it be until the ceremony? She knew they had only a few days left now until it was too late. She hoped that someone, just someone, would find them in time and rescue them. The punishment for her was not what she feared the most; the thing that would break her entirely was to witness Mako and Bolin's lives being ruined in an instant by one too powerful man. They would be devastated. She could already see their blank faces before her inner eye. It was too easy to hurt them.

The thought pained her more than anything she could imagine. Her closed eyes started to sting, the corner of her eyes invaded by tears. Then she took a decision.

If it became necessary, and if it was her very last resort, she would make a new offer; an offer she knew Amon could not refuse.

-:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:-

As usual, thank you for reading! I hope you liked what you saw/read :3

The next chapter should be far more exciting!

Love, MAL.