Chapter Two
Mako was catching up on reports when he saw his boss walk into the bullpen at the station, a cup of tea in hand and a scowl on her face as usual. It was the early morning. He waited for her to settle down in her office first. Lin Beifong had a routine for when she came into work, and the whole station knew better than to interrupt it. Lin always hung up her coat and sat down to check over the last shift's activities as well as her calendar to let her morning beverage kick in and wake her up.
"Detective you can come in," The Chief's voice called out from behind the office doors as Mako was right about to knock. She somehow always knew when he needed to speak to her in the morning.
"Morning Chief," He closed the doors behind him. "I followed up with some of the leads I got on the Terra Triad's new whereabouts but they've all been dead ends, they're giving us a good run about still." He sighed. "I've never seen a triad move like this before."
"You're right that they're more organized than the others right now. Maybe Dr. Shen does reflect his credentials in terms of his intelligence." Lin grumbled, glancing over a report. "I see that Officer Song and Detective Li have made an arrest though last night which might give us more insight." She handed Mako the report.
"Another drug bust….?"
"Did you look to see what kind though?"
"The rock candy stuff? I thought the Terra Triad was selling it, not the Triple Threats?"
"That means they likely got it from them. I want you and Detective Li to set up an undercover operation in the coming weeks, neither of you has arrested enough of the Terra Triad's members for them to recognize you. It seems that they're making deals with other triads. You'll stake out the Triple Threats first and get more intel, I want to make sure that when we do find them, we can bury them for good."
"Yes, Chief." Mako nodded.
"We'll have more briefings on this, but in the meantime I want you to keep an eye out. There hasn't been any activity at Shen's estate but I doubt that's the last we'll see of him around town. Missing person's cases are going back up again and Detective Li is working on those, you should meet with her to see if she has anything else useful."
Mako nodded again before turning to leave the office.
"And kid?"
"Yes, Chief?"
"Be careful."
"Always am."
Lin rolled her eyes. That was contested in her opinion. Now she had an idea of how Kya felt.
The next afternoon Lin was tired. She hadn't slept well the night prior, partially because she was alone in the bed that night and she had more stress dreams. The metalbender glanced at her calendar to see that she only had two more meetings at City Hall to attend more budgeting hearings and then she was done with work for the day. She always made a point to have her secretary only schedule one budgeting hearing a day when possible and nothing else because she hated them so much. Today she just got unlucky.
The Chief had to hold back several yawns at the meetings. Nothing they were talking about directly affected the police department but she also refused to give Raiko any excuse to get on her tail about professionalism. He was condescending enough already. After several hours the meetings were mercifully over and Lin made her way back to the station to file more paperwork on the budgeting and to get it all to her financial staff at the station. It was only once she was walking through the bullpen that she realized what time it was in the evening.
"Shit." She cursed under her breath and quickened her pace to her office. She would have to book it across the north side of town in rush hour traffic to meet up with Kya on time at the property showing. She quickly shuffled her paperwork into her briefcase and grabbed her coat. She passed Saikhan's office down the hall.
"I'm out for the rest of tonight, call me only if you really need me." She called over her shoulder.
"Copy that Chief. Have a good night." Saikhan's voice called back.
The metalbender stepped outside with her satomobile keys in hand but then decided against it after taking a glance at how busy the next streets over were. She sighed and shot a cable up onto the cable lines above, balancing on the thick steel wire. The cable systems were utilized for official police work only, but Saikhan was the only one who knew she was off right now. And any officer to tell her otherwise was not an officer that believed in self-preservation.
Kya was standing outside a townhouse patiently, watching the people of Republic City commute home in the busy streets. She startled when she heard a loud scraping noise followed by a set of metal boots landing behind her.
"Spirits Lin, I was not expecting you to arrive flying out of the sky!" She laughed. Lin smirked.
"I would have thought that your nieces and nephews would have made you more prepared for attacks from above now." Lin teased. Kya shook her head and but she still had an amused glint in her eyes. The glint became more annoyed when she saw what Lin was wearing.
"Lin, you're going to make the realtor nervous from wearing your police uniform."
"I brought a jacket, don't you worry…" Lin mumbled in return, handing Kya her briefcase to hold while she slipped on her jacket over her uniform. A cab then pulled up and a woman wearing a sharp dark red and black blazer jacket and skirt stepped out. She was holding a clipboard and had a pair of horn-rimmed glasses on. She cleared her throat before walking over to the couple.
"Miss Beifong and….?" She glanced at Lin and then at Kya.
"Kya, you can call me Kya." The waterbender replied.
"Oh Kya! Thank you, you can both call me Ming, I'll be showing you around this townhouse property today." The realtor said in a chipper voice before turning to pull out a set of keys from her pocket and unlock the door.
"Nice to meet you both, and so nice to have your friend join us today Miss Beifong, it's always convenient to have another opinion from a friend while house hunting." She said, completely oblivious to the looks that the couple exchanged with each other as they were led into the townhouse. The realtor opened the front door to reveal a somewhat narrow but tall home.
"The original plot is older than Republic City itself. The foundation has been here since the old Yu Dao days but the house has been recently renovated in the last few years so it is all up to date on having electricity and full plumbing." Ming walked further into the house and flicked on the light switches to light up the entryway more. "There is a cellar downstairs and a very small attic space."
"What about the yard?" Lin asked.
"Yes! There is a backyard on this plot, very big compared to the other homes in this neighborhood since we're so close to downtown." Ming smiled as she led them even further inside, passed the living room and kitchen. The floor was tiled nicely and the walls were all painted various golden yellows and olive greens. She slid open some paper screen doors that lead to the back yard and Lin took a step outside, surveying the yard. Kya stood next to her.
"Just big enough for some milder earth bending training," Lin commented, she got closer to Kya. "We could also put in a pond and garden just for you." She said in a quieter tone. Kya's lips turned up into a warm smile. They followed the realtor back into the house and went up the narrow and slightly steep staircase up to the second floor.
"Here we have a master bedroom with a bathroom, as well as a guest room. The guestroom has attic access I believe." She commented. "The master bedroom also has a balcony view of the bay, which is getting harder to come by in real estate these days." Lin stepped into the master bedroom and opened the doors out to the balcony, revealing the sun setting behind the faraway silhouette of Air Temple Island. Kya joined her out on the balcony as well.
"What do you think Chief?" She asked, leaning against the railing.
"I do like the location and the yard," Lin replied. "The stairs are a little steep but I might be able to fix that with some earthbending. I don't expect my knees to last for much longer I'm afraid."
"Oh shush, you're not that old yet." Kya laughed. "You're making me feel old. I do like how quiet it is here considering it's so close to downtown."
"We should see what else is on the market right now, but it's a good spot." Lin agreed, still gazing over the skyline. They examined the rest of the house, finding a nice mix of new additions and old charm from when it was first built. After wrapping up the tour, they parted ways with the realtor saying they still wanted to look at more places before making a decision. Lin and Kya soon found themselves walking home along the streets of Republic City, the sun finally set fully and traffic hour was long past over.
"The realtor may have been dense, but it was a nice house." Kya laughed, her hand brushing against Lin's every once in a while.
"Did you want to look at the house closer to the Southern Cultural center?" Lin asked.
"Definitely, that one would be closer to the street market as well which I would like," Kya replied before taking in a deep sigh happily. "It's so funny seeing you being so domestic." She teased.
"Says the woman who just said she'd like to be closer to the market," Lin smirked. "You're probably further from domesticity than I am though with all your nomad years under your belt."
"You got me there."
They returned to Lin's apartment shortly after dark, carrying home dumplings they had gotten on the way back. They sat and ate them quietly before Lin cleaned up the kitchen, her armor gone as she scrubbed plates in the sink. She felt two arms wrap around her waist from behind, and a chin rest on her shoulder before a pair of lips pressed in close to her ear.
"You know I love you a lot, right?" Kya asked, kissing the soft delicate skin of Lin's neck.
"Yes, and I love you too," Lin replied, turning her head to catch Kya's lips. They kissed gently at first, but then the plate Lin was scrubbing made a loud splash as she dropped it into the sink, forgotten and ready to soak for the rest of the night as Kya dragged her lover to the bedroom, kissing her lips more needily over and over again. There were some situations where not sleeping was welcome.