"When things get heated, you are pulled in different directions, and you've to stand firm."

― Nani

Chapter 14 - Spirits of the Past

"They need you more than us."

The damage and havoc on the extravagant room was undeniable. The earth was torn up and a treacherous journey from one end of the room to another. Water puddles and patches of ice covered the ground. The smell of smoke and flames lingered. There were even several lightning bolt dents in the roof.

Bodies were being pulled from subdued mecha suits by the officers that had finally arrived from Su's group. Some were compliant, others were being difficult. Opal and Su's guards were busy freeing some of the victims above. The remaining officers and Su were investigating the rest of the tunnels to find and collect evidence and locate more of the victims.

Through all the destruction from the elements, the pool and trails of red blood overshadowed all of that. Most of it was Asami's, but there was no doubt that some of the smaller trails of blood belonged to others injured during battle.

When blood was shed in any mission under Chief Beifong's guidance, but especially rivers of blood, it was her life's mission to make it meaningful. All that blood wasn't going to be in vain.

The question was who did Beifong want to interrogate first.

The Dai Li?

Tokuga?

The man who had been ripping Tokuga a new one and burnt his face?

The Dai Li were still unconscious and restrained in the earth as far as Beifong could tell, but she knew she could slap or pound them out of it with earthbending. Her mother taught her that from a young age.

Tokuga was squirming in his confines, but otherwise restrained and in no danger of being an immediate. It was going to require a slick maneuver to rip those gloves from him once they receded the earth shell.

The man who had tackled Tokuga had a weary look on his face. He was silent, but frantically looking around from the confines of his earth shell. He had a long cut along his cheek from Tokuga, trickling more blood. There was also a dark, prominent bruise along his jawline.

Beifong wasn't sure if this was one of Tokuga's recruits or one of the kidnappees. If he was a kidnappee, he wasn't from Republic City. She knew many of the faces of the kidnappees outside of the Republic City after requesting photos of other provinces' victims, but after a while they began to blur.

She approached him with two officers and lowered the gag from his mouth. "What's your deal? Who are you?" she shot at him, in position to defend herself if he was putting up an act and preparing for a fire breath, but he made no move to attack. If anything, he looked like he was about to cry.

"W-where is she?" His golden eyes pleaded to be heard. "He made me do it. He made us all do this." Tokuga screamed into his gag and began struggling again. Beifong surrounded Tokuga with an earth cube, shielding him from the outside world.

"What did he make you do?" she pressed, eyes harden about what was going to be reveled, but she had to remain vigilant on his words.

"Attack everyone." Tears streamed down his face freely, sticking the dirty hair to his face and showing how broken he seemed to be. "I tried fighting whatever they did to me, but then he pulled a knife on me." He opened his mouth to speak again, but scanned the room instead. For a second time, he asked, "Where is she?"

"Who?"

"Yasuko," he whimpered. "He hurt her. I hurt her."

Lin stepped forward and tipped the man's head back. All the gold had returned to his irises, but he was still a little muddled. That or delusional which made Beifong a little skeptical about him. She needed further evidence.

"Your brain's all wonky still."

"Please, where is she?" he pleaded once more. Taking matters into her own hands, Lin slapped him across the face. That seemed to snap him out of his depressive state and into a surprised state.

"I don't know who you are, but Yasuko's been dead for twenty years. That was Asami bleeding out."

"Yes, yes, her!" he exclaimed, perking up a little. "Her daughter."

"Well, I can't tell you where she is because I don't know, and even if I did, I wouldn't tell you if my life depended on it. What I know for certain is that the Avatar is going to want to have a word with you regarding your involvement since you hurt Asami. That is if she doesn't decapitate Tokuga first."


The Beifong sisters had an appointment with the Dai Li. Both Dai Li agents were still unconscious. The Beifongs took their stances in front of them, officers flanking the sides of the Dai Li. Lin and Su forced them out of the earth, and the officers wrapped their cables around them. The movement awoke the agents and were met with the Beifongs leering over them.

"You two better start talking." Beifong scrutinized both of them, waiting for one wrong move from either of them. The unscarred Dai Li agent turned his head away from them. The scarred Dai Li agent looked down for the slightest of moments.

"I didn't sign up for this!" The other Dai Li agent began spewing at him to shut his mouth. Su slapped a metal plate over his mouth. Lin nodded at the scarred agent to continue. "He approached us and we agreed to help him. We hated that fool of a king, figured this would be a better choice. I never signed up for getting electrocuted in the face!"

The other agent began thrashing. Beifong ordered her officers to relocate him to one of the tunnels for the time being and keep a close eye on him. Once they were alone again, Beifong nodded towards him to continue.

"We slipped into society unnoticed for his cause. There are eyes everywhere watching everyone's moves every minute of the day. Someone as high ranking as the Avatar and her friends are no exception."

Lin and Su were aware of the what the Dai Li had done during the Hundred Year War. Their mother had been a key figure and eye witness to the Dai Li after all. But one thing wasn't making sense to the chief.

"What's the point of the whistle?'

"Conditioning. We have our traditional ways of mind control, but incorporating a sound, a whistle, refines it." He glowered over at the firebender who had broken out of it. "Obviously, it is not full proof and eventually wears off if not stimulated consistently or beaten into one's innate nature. It's all basic psychology. Maybe if you studied the mind, you would have seen the signs earlier."

"Watch your mouth!" Beifong warned, lowering into a defensive stance.

"As I was saying," he continued, not fazed by the rugged chief, "emotional memories and events trigger an acceleration to normal and oftentimes undoes the carefully manipulated mind. Since you're both Beifongs, I would assume you already know that. But the psychological scars will run deep for everyone involved."

That Dai Li agent revealed everything. Tokuga's henchmen were under strict orders to commit small scale robberies just for the hell of it to instill fear into citizens that they could and would do more. Blowing up the station. Robbing the corporations. Attacking Air Temple Island during a full moon.

Raiko was a convenient and very willing participant in revealing secrets about the citizens and the city and the United Republic. Raiko would be a savior for the United Republic, returning countless individuals to their families. However, he did need a gentle nudge to make those public statements. Raiko was so far gone in his convoluted mind that he was actually convinced what he was doing was right. He merely became a pawn in Tokuga's game.

Tokuga desired revenge against Asami and to strike Republic City again. This time around, with the help of the Dai Li, he would threaten the city with explosives and mecha suits that help those kidnapped. It would be akin to a civil war: saving their home or saving their family.

He was finishing up about the unplanned, but very strategic significance of Hisakata with the ending note of, "Read between the lines, Chief."

Beifong was about to respond when one of the officers interrupted them.

"Chief, you're going to want to see this."


Asami spoke, but Korra heard none of it. She might as well have been speaking a foreign language or using prestigious engineer diction to geek out and show her passion. Korra would then nod like she fully understood what she was saying, but there was no nodding in the hospital room. This wasn't a lost in translation either.

All she saw was the damaged skin on her neck. Korra had since gave Asami a full body healing session though it wasn't necessary for her lower half at all, but seeing it gave the Avatar peace of mind and some much-needed control, Asami allowed it. The sincerity in her tone was undeniable that she was no longer in pain, but the sight of her hands, right side, shoulder, and neck made her queasy and feel like a failure.

"Sweetie?"

"Huh?" She shifted her gaze away from the burn several inches up to the worried, green eyes.

Actions always spoke louder than words, but Asami bringing up her hand to Korra's cheek did the opposite of what it was meant to do. Those few milliseconds that those stitches moved across her vision sent her back to when she pried the glove off her hand. The stitches would dissolve soon enough, but the memories of seeing her hand sliced open never would.

"Talk to me," she pleaded softly with her words and her eyes, running her thumb underneath the lost, icy blue eye. "Was it really that bad?"

"I saw bone, Asami. You're an engineer. Your hands are kind of important," she growled, releasing some of her frustrations. She removed the wounded hand from her cheek and held it between them, stitches glaringly obvious with more pink skin. "I don't understand why you're not freaking out more. You could've died!"

It was the first time Korra used that word with Asami conscious. The concept of death had floated around in her head for several hours. It was a part of her life and there was no way to avoid it, but she could do her damndest from this point forward to mitigate the probability of it.

For her. Asami deserved that much.

The injured woman sighed softly, determining how to formulate the correct words. "The tables have turned, Avatar Korra." She never referred to her as Avatar Korra unless she was speaking in public or was teasing her. Even then, she usually only said 'Avatar'. "I can't dwell on the what ifs more than a day or two every time you get injured. If I did, I'd go mad. It's in the past, and I can't change it now." She reached over with her slightly burnt hand and covered the top of Korra's. "But I'll proudly bear whatever scars I may bear from our endeavors so long as I get to have you forever."

"But…"

Asami shoved a finger against her lips to shush her. "No buts, Korra. You know as well as I do that both of us can take care of ourselves in battle. Tokuga saw a rare opening and used it to his advantage. I wasn't about to leave you alone. I'll always have you."

Korra sighed, shoulders sagging and running a finger along the foreign material embedded in soft skin. "I just hate seeing you here in the hospital. With stitches and damaged skin that you shouldn't have."

"And there is nothing wrong with that. I hated seeing you pass out last week too, but this feeling we've both had, watching the other injured and in bed, solidifies our love." She reached up and pushed some loose hair behind Korra's ear. "But I need to see the guilt in your eyes disappear. You are not at fault for what Tokuga did to me. Only Tokuga is at fault, he's the one who calculated everything."

Hearing his name ignited a new fire in the Avatar's eyes. "And I'm going to rip his and the Dai Li's heads off for the pain and suffering they've caused me, you, and everyone else in the United Republic."

Asami chuckled and shook her head. At least it seemed Korra's mind was elsewhere for now. She was the type of person to wear her heart on her sleeve at all times, but Asami knew they'd have to visit the topic later.

"Baby, I really don't want to bail you out of jail," she faked moaned, but made sure to smile to let her know she was joking for the most part.

"Jail? I'm sure Beifong would join me in tearing them apart or have an unfortunate misplacement of the paperwork authorizing my booking!"

Asami playfully rolled her eyes. Doing so brought her Future Industries jacket back into mind. "Well, it'd be a shame if you got thrown in jail. I wouldn't be able to see you wearing my jacket again. I am an idiot for not giving it to you earlier."

"Huh," she said, looking down at herself. "Forgot I was even wearing this."

"Well, you look sexy in it. You should wear red more often. Aw, you're blushing!"

"Yeah, yeah," she chuckled, but made no attempt to hide her reddened cheeks, "maybe you should wear blue more often. Red and black really go well with my skin tone, 'Sami."

"You're ridiculous. Red and black are gorgeous on you just like all the other colors in the spectrum."

Korra shifted in her seat and leaned back, thinking about the previous night with the young boy. "Speaking of colors, when Hisakata gave me your jacket, we had a little talk and he told me a few interesting things."

"Such as?" Korra told her a summary of what he'd said about the two of them, and how her eyes reminded him of his sister and mom's eyes. A few seconds passed before she responded. There was something in her green eyes that Korra couldn't read. "I remember my mom always used to emphasize that mine were green whereas hers and my dad's were gold and maroon. She used to call me her green-eyed princess."

"Can I call you that?" Korra eagerly asked, a flirty smile plastered on her face. There returned the happy woman she loved so much.

"At home, not the office."

"Deal!"

Figuring Korra wasn't going to bring it up, Asami brought up the elephant rhino in the room. "What are we supposed to do with Hisakata and his sister once they're reunited?"

"I really believe they're orphans so I guess we find them a nice orphanage. That or maybe they've got some family they don't know about that we could locate. There's not exactly a handbook on what to do with kids you pull from the streets." Tenzin and Pema hadn't said anything about him staying on the island so she figured it was okay for a little while. "Right now, we need to focus on getting you out of the hospital and regaining your strength."


An hour later, Mako and Bolin arrived in the room. Both were relieved to find Asami sitting up in bed and speaking. Even the awkward hug she gave both of them eased their nerves. Up and close they saw the damage done to her neck. They not so discreetly eyed it until Korra cleared her throat rather loudly.

"Have you heard anything from Beifong and the others?" Korra asked Mako.

"Not a word. We radioed both airships, but no response. If we don't hear anything from them by evening, we're sending an additional airship for them." They sent the airship back after their arrival with a fresh squad of officers aboard. From the bags under Mako's eyes, it looked like he hadn't slept at all since leaving after Korra returned to the hospital. Bolin on the other hand looked more rested, but nervous.

"So…" he drawled out, bouncing on his toes with his hands behind his back.

Mako groaned and pinched his nose. "We're going to have to tell them sooner or later, Bo. I haven't slept in over a day. We just need to rip the elbow leech off. It's better it comes from us than someone else."

Bolin shuffled behind Mako, resting his hands atop of his shoulders. "So…Korra, have you left the hospital recently?"

"What do you think, Bolin?" Korra snapped then sighed. "Sorry. No, I haven't left since I came back. You said there's been no word from Beifong so what's wrong?"

Bolin's eyes flickered between Asami and Korra's eyes, not sure which pair would be less likely be kill him. He did his best efforts though to lessen the blow before coming over. "Okay, don't be mad. And don't burn down the hospital. Either of you. Mako, maybe you should hold both of them down."

"For Spirit's sake, one of you spit it out!"

Bolin winced at the tone of the Avatar. He reached into his jacket and pulled out the morning's newspaper with the headline front and center.

Future Industries' CEO: Suicide Attempt or Defeated in Battle?

"What?" both of the women screeched. Korra ripped the paper out of Bolin's hands. Asami, blatantly disregarding her stitches and weak body, tried to get out of bed. Mako immediately put a stop to that.

"Get me a phone or a radio," she barked and tried to overpower Mako who, as gently as he possibly could, pinned her down.

"Please, calm down, Asami," Bolin pleaded, dropping to his knees by the bedside. "Don't worry, me and Mako took care of everything. Your assistant is going to be here very soon to discuss matters with you and other business-y stuff. She already said she was on the phones with the lawyers and other executives."

"Future Industries is my life, the only part connecting me to my parents anymore. I can't let them drag it through the mud. If my father wasn't bad enough, the investors are going to have a field day thinking the CEO's suicidal."

Asami continued arguing with the brothers while Korra took in every libelous word. Apparently, when they all arrived in the hospital a bloody mess, everyone noticed that it was Asami Sato who was making a grand entrance and being placed on the gurney. Some witnesses speculated that she was suicidal because of Hiroshi's death and became mentally unstable. A few assumed she was in battle, but the article was heavily bias towards depression and suicide leading her to fatally cut herself only to fail. The only silver lining was that no one speculated anything about Asami using one of her own inventions to end her life.

"Excuse me," a healer interrupted everyone. "Chief Beifong is on the radio and has requested to speak with Avatar Korra and Detective Mako."

Mako and Korra eyed each other, nodding at one another. Only after Korra instructed Bolin to not let Asami leave that bed did they follow the healer to their radio.

"Beifong, Mako and I are here. What's going on?"

"Are you alone? Are you sitting down? This will be a lot to take in."


"Are you flipping, fucking kidding me, Beifong?" Korra shouted into the radio, enraged at all the information she and Mako were briefed on. It was a miracle the radio's microphone hadn't been crushed by her fingers.

"Have you finally put all the pieces of the puzzle together?"

"We laid all our cards out for you, but you have failed."

Those phrases were a mantra in Korra's head. She felt her heart climb to a perilous height, teetering on falling faster than the gravity would force it, leading her to believe she may be the next one checking into the hospital.

That Dai Li agent was telling the truth. None of them connected the dots or read between the lines deep enough.

Water, earth, fire attacks on them. The victims against their will.

Stolen whistle from Air Temple Island. The whistle for conditioning.

The knives. The updated gloves.

Hisakata and Midori. Korra and Asami.

"Chief, what do you need us to do?"

"I need you two to be ready at the station when we arrive with everyone. As discreetly as you can, assemble a team of healers and doctors from the hospital. I don't want you to stir up a panic." Beifong paused for a moment, filling the room with unbearable static. "There's more to unfold with you two, but I'll give you more details when we arrive. Send Asami my regards, Korra."

Mako and Korra sat in the room, staring at the radio. Korra's body shook and a sob tore through her body. Tokuga's intentions were in front of her the whole time. While strategizing to take over Republic City from the ground up this time, he was quietly planning his revenge against Asami for crossing him with the gas and having a hand in his previous defeat.

"Hey, everything's alright." Mako rubbed her back in a feeble attempt to comfort his friend.

"Mako, Asami shouldn't be here. I should've seen it," she hissed, fisting her hair in her hands. Overwhelmed at the growing guilt, stray tears rolled down her cheeks again. "He could've taken both of the kids. He didn't even have to take either of them. He specifically took her and left him. He's me and she's Asami in his twisted mind. I feel like absolute shit because everything's been in front of me this whole time!"

"Korra, none of us could have made these predictions. Tokuga and the Dai Li pulled us in every direction, stretching us thin."

But this was all part of the plan. Every move was calculated perfectly. Even the moves they hadn't planned for made their plan all the more cunning.

The icing on the cake was that Tokuga was out for Asami's blood and in either scenario, she'd lose personally. Asami would either be dead or Korra would live with the guilt that his plans for her were in front of her and that she'd been brought down by a Sato original weapon.

He knew that Asami would be with her.

"In fact, where was her whole posse that always shows up with her?"

They had been Raiko's words, but they rang true. She knew Asami was never going to back down from battle with her, but Korra promised herself that she'd never let Asami dance with death or danger like that again. That was the one goal in life that she could be selfish with.

The only silver lining she saw was that Tokuga had wanted to play with his prey rather than deliver a single blow. She dry heaved at just the thought of that.

Mako went to assemble a small medical unit for Beifong. Korra took another moment to compose herself, wiping away her tears and hoping her eyes weren't too red.

In her room, Asami was giving Bolin the stink eye with her arms across her chest. The patches of reds and pinks covering her hands and neck only served to reinforce the promise to herself.

She took her seat again and rested a hand against Asami's blanketed thigh. The Avatar was captive to those alluring green eyes that she believed for a few hours she'd never be able to see again.

"Mako and I have to head back to the station. Beifong and others will be here soon, and it sounds like it's going to be a madhouse. Zhu Li's probably going to need you, Bo. Are you going to be okay by yourself for a little while, baby?" Leaving her alone wasn't ideal by any means, but she had a duty and personal business to attend to.

"Absolutely. Don't worry about a thing," Asami replied, raising her stitch ridden right hand up to Korra's cheek. Korra felt threads of the stitches again, igniting a primal instinct inside of her. "Gin will be here soon anyway, and I prefer if you didn't see me yelling and cursing about Future Industries. I promise not to get too stressed out and not leave the bed." She trailed her hand to the back of Korra's head and pulled her in for a kiss. "Please, don't kill him. I really don't want to add bailing the Avatar out of jail to my list of achievements."

"Fine," she grumbled, leaning in for another quick kiss. "I reserve the right to rough him up though." She placed her hand up on Asami's cheek, seeing all the love, determination in eyes despite everything. "Please, don't do anything that will prolong your stay here."

Korra didn't leave the hospital without a few threats to the healers and doctors that if Asami left that bed for anything besides the bathroom, they'd be the next ones with an appointment with a hospital bed. She had a sneaking suspicion that Asami was going to try to push herself too hard in her absence.

It also wasn't without a quick call to Air Temple Island requesting for the airbenders to come by and keep Asami company if they could.

Their deep conversation from when she woke up and before Mako and Bolín arrived was in the back of her mind. There were no reservations about their dedication to each other, but guilt was making his presence known, becoming stronger by the minute, banging on the walls.

And she had a feeling he was building a home to stay for a while despite any feeble efforts to prevent him from taking over.


Posted: March 11, 2021

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